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ICTURES WITH A PURPOSE 


HOW THEY ARE MADE 


BY CHARLES KERLEE 


CAMERA CRAFT PUBLISHING CO. • 4 2 5 BUSH STREET. SAN FRANCISCO 


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COPYRIGHT 1 9 3 9 • CAMERA CRAFT PUBLISHING COMPANY • SAN FRANCISCO 


OOK A 317701 

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3[nTRODUCTION 


THE PHOTOGRAPHS in this book were made to fill definite 
orders. Their purpose was to attract the readers’ attention, tell a story and display merchandise. 
In making the photographs, I used Du Pont Superior Panchromatic film. The exterior photo¬ 
graphs, in most cases, were made with a 4x5 Series D Graflex, using an 814 inch Steinheil 
Cassar lens, or a 40 cm. (16 inch) Tele-Tessar lens. The interior photographs were made 
with a 4x5 Korona View camera, using a 914 inch Voigtlander Heliar lens. The negatives were 
all developed in a Pyro Acetone developer. The formula for this developer is as follows: 


A. Oxalic Acid.13 gr. 

Metol.123 gr. 

Pyro. 367 gr. 

Potassium Metabisulphite . 31 gr. 

Water . 15 oz. 


The prints were made on a condenser enlarger, 
using double weight glossy paper. They were de¬ 
veloped in Amidol, the formula for which is: 


B. Sodium Sulphite.2oz., Il4gr. 

Water.15 oz. 

C. Acetone.3 oz. 


D. Water to make 1 gal. (128oz.) Develop at 65-70°F. 


1 oz. 
15 gr. 
20 gr. 
55 gr. 
40 oz. 


Sodium Sulphite 
Potassium Bromide 
Citric Acid . . . 

Amidol .... 
Water .... 


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3 




















★ ★ ★ 

In the text of this book, I have tried to explain the reasons for making the photographs in 
this collection, and how they were made. Throughout the text mention is made of "minimum 
exposure." I shall attempt to explain this here, and further comment is made on page 10. 

In calculating exposure I use a Weston exposure meter. Through experience I have synchro¬ 
nized this meter with my particular developer and film emulsion. The expression "minimum 
exposure” is used in the sense that at a minimum exposure, the highlights on any particular set 
are not over-exposed. Thus, they can never be blocked, or over-developed, since any developer 
will only over-develop highlights which have been over-exposed. The use of the minimum ex¬ 
posure depends upon the balance of the light between the highlights and shadows, and how 
you wish to render the shadows. For example, if you wish to photograph a set and represent it 
in your print with no detail in the shadows, a minimum exposure is definitely needed, as is a 
minimum amount of light reflected into the shadows. However, if you wish to show consider¬ 
able detail in the shadows, and you have no means of increasing the amount of light already 
there, a minimum exposure would be a mistake, unless it is a very flatly lighted set. However, 
in a great many sets, the shadows do have enough light to be reproduced correctly with a mini¬ 
mum exposure, and by the use of reflectors, or additional lighting, it is possible to fill light into 
the shadows to render them in any degree of density desired. 

* The control of shadow detail is very important in making effective pictures. There will 
be occasions when it is desirable to carry a great amount of detail in shadows to help give 
emphasis and attention value to a print. At other times a lack of shadow detail will give a 
more effective picture. A good way to realize the importance of shadows in photography is to 
compare a photographic print with a charcoal drawing. The artist working with charcoal starts 


4 








★ ★ ★ 

his work with a clean, white piece of paper. Each line he puts on the paper makes a shadow, 
which varies in depth according to the amount of charcoal deposited upon the paper. While 
it is true that the photographer, in the majority of cases has varying degrees of shadows in 
almost anything he photographs, the placement and depth of these shadows is just as important 
to the final print as the placement and depth of the charcoal drawing • For example, suppose 
the photographer photographs an evenly illuminated white wall. The light reflected from the 
wall will deposit on the film, in a corresponding degree of tone, the image of the wall. The 
degree of whiteness, or the tone value of the wall, will be determined to some extent by the 
manipulation of the film in exposure and development. If, however, we place an object before 
the wall in such a way that it casts a shadow, this shadow will add depth to the picture, which 
in turn will add interest. Naturally, the way in which the object is placed before the wall, and 
the way in which the shadow falls upon the wall, plus the way in which the shadow is con¬ 
trolled in density, will control the amount of attention value which the shadow will give the 
finished print • Good photographs must present an illusion of depth on a flat surface. Artists 
study years in order to achieve this result in their drawings and paintings. Photographers can’t 
expect to achieve comparable results in a few months. It is true that when a photographer 
points a light at his subject, the shadow resulting from that light will tend to add some depth 
to the set; but it does not necessarily follow that this result will be the most desirable. 

* The correct lighting for any subject is determined by the subject itself, the manner in 
which the photographer wishes to present the subject, and the way in which the photograph is 
to be used. In lighting any subject for the camera, the placement and depth of the shadows 
determine to a great extent the success of the lighting • The placement of the shadows will 


5 





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depend upon the angle at which the light strikes the subject; the depth of the shadows, particu¬ 
larly on some outdoor sets, upon the manipulation of the exposure and development. 

* The importance of the placement of shadows is illustrated in the reproduction of the 
bowling pins. Had the shadows been placed differently, some of the depth of the print would 
have been lost, since it would have upset the light and dark pattern. The reproduction of the 
girl and the eucalyptus tree would have suffered if the set had been lit with a front light, for 
the same reason. Also, in both of these sets, if the shadow depth had been less the prints would 
have lost some of their attention value, due to a lack of contrast between the deep shadow 
area and the lighter tones in back of the shadows. 

The beginner in photography will have to consider not only the lighting problem on his 
set, but also the means of rendering it on his film so that it will give a presentable print in the 
finished photograph. It is not always necessary to reproduce a set exactly as it is, since on some 
occasions it will be desirable to either increase or decrease the depth of the shadows. The means 
of accomplishing this depends upon exposure and development of the negative. They are the 
most important processes in photographic technique. 

* Since every photographer has or should have an electric exposure meter, the variables in 
the exposure process are somewhat decreased. There is, however, the question of contrast, or 
shadow depth, which no meter will readily record. The contrast, or more properly, the scale 
of a subject is determined by the difference in intensity of the light reflected from the highlights 
and shadows. This quality is something which the photographer must learn to judge by experi¬ 
ence, so that he may either reproduce the set as it is, or as he wishes it to be. Intelligent control 
of the amount of shadow detail is the key to successful photographic technique, and should be 
thoroughly mastered by the beginner in photography, before he attempts any serious work. 


6 







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ICTURES WITH A PURPOSE 


HOW THEY ARE MADE 


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This photograph was made for a real estate 
company. They ordered a photograph which would 
serve as a cover for a booklet to be used as a direct 
mail piece. Their prospective customers constituted 
a high-class market of home buyers. The picture 
was to be reproduced in about a 133 line half-tone 
screen and printed in letter-press on a good enamel 
stock. 

■¥■ In planning the photograph, I realized that 
since it was to be used as a cover, it must be strong 
and dramatic. And since it was to be used in selling 
houses, it should suggest architecture generally. 
This particular house was chosen as the subject 
because it was a home within the price range of 
those the real estate company was trying to sell. 
The house was also a good photographic subject, 
since it had excellent contrasts in line and tone. 
The round pillars would contrast with the flat sur¬ 
face of the house itself, as well as with the lines 
formed by the shutters, windows and the brick. 
Also, the white pillars would contrast with the 
darker tones of the brick and dark sky. The house 
had good texture, in the pattern of the shutters and 
that of the brick. It also had an interesting design, 
and one which easily lent itself to a simple, poster 
treatment. 

M In composing the photograph, it was neces¬ 
sary to allow room in the upper right-hand corner 
for a small amount of copy. In this particular case 
the copy could be used in a reverse cut, that is, 
white letters instead of black. The tree was used to 
break the strong verticals created by the pillars, and 
also to help balance the copy which would add 


weight to the right side of the print. The tree also 
gave an added plane to the picture • The print was 
kept as simple as possible, and the attention value 
was derived from the striking contrast of light and 
dark tones, round and flat planes, and the texture 
created by the shutters and brick work of the house. 
■¥■ For making this shot, I used the View camera, 
and the Heliar lens. The camera was placed on the 
ground, as this gave height to the pillars, and also 
helped accentuate the height of the plants in front 
of the house by placing them against the lighter 
tones of the pillars and brick work. The camera 
was placed directly in front of the house, to empha¬ 
size the straight lines of the pillars. (See the 
lighting and set diagram above). 

*¥■ The lighting was a top, front light. The sun was 
directly in back of the camera, and at about a sixty 
degree angle to the ground. This front lighting was 
used to help keep the picture from becoming too 
busy. A cross light would have cast shadows across 
the brick work and the pillars, and would have 
ruined the simple poster effect needed in the 
print • I used a 23a (Wratten Red) filter. With 
this it was possible to get a good dark sky, which 
not only gave the picture a more dramatic feeling, 
but also rendered the sky dark enough in tone to 
strongly stand out the reverse cut of the copy. The 
red filter also lightened the red brick slightly, and 
emphasized its pattern and texture. This was impor¬ 
tant, since if the brick had been very much darker, 
some of its texture would have been lost, which in 
turn would have lessened the attention value of the 
print. Lightening the brick also gave a better back- 


9 









★ ★ ★ 


ground against which to play the darker tones of 
the tree and bushes. The dark lawn and tree played 
against the lighter brick give depth to the print. 
The white pillars against the darker shadows give 
added emphasis to the pillars, and punch to the 
print. 

■K The exposure on this set was about one-half 
stop above the minimum. (Minimum exposure is 
explained in the Introduction, and at the end of 
this copy). This exposure rendered the tree and 
lawn as definite, strong darks, and also carried 
enough detail in the heavy shadow on the house to 
allow the reader to see what was in the shadow, but 
still kept it deep enough in tone to give a good 
contrasting background for the white pillars. This 
exposure also rendered the texture of the brick very 
well • The reason for the one-half stop above the 
minimum was to insure strong, clean whites in the 
pillars. By a long development, it was possible to 
develop the whites out to a point where they 
blocked slightly which, when the negative was 
printed, allowed the pillars to be almost clean, 
white paper. The exposure on this set was Vj 
second at F: 32. The negative was developed for 
about one and one-half hours. 

M In printing the negative, it was necessary to 
print down the foreground for about two seconds. 
This gave a stronger base to the house and helped 
keep the interest on the house. The printing time 
was eighteen seconds at F: 11, and the print was 
developed for about two minutes, to give as strong 
darks as possible. 

* In regard to minimum exposure. If you should 
be interested in working along this line, you will 
find it advisable to learn to use your meter, not as 
a meter alone, but as an instrument balanced with 
your particular developer and film. In order to 
balance these tools, you must standardize your 
developer and film. Keep your developer a con¬ 
stant, and stick to one type of film. Personally, I 
have found that Du Pont Superior is an excellent, 
all-around emulsion. By experimenting, it will be 
possible to fit your particular meter to your devel¬ 


oper and film. It is very important to realize that 
an emulsion speed rating has no real meaning 
except in relation to a particular film-developer 
combination. The same film may require a much 
different exposure when processed in one developer 
than in another. There are quite a few other factors 
which detract from the accuracy of emulsion speed 
ratings, but these are, for the most part, compen¬ 
sated for by the meter readings with sufficient 
accuracy for practical purposes • By experimenting 
with a few dozen films and a developer which you 
understand and can keep fairly constant, you can be 
sure that at a certain Weston rating, you are going 
to be able to give the proper exposure for the high¬ 
lights on any set. It should be, particularly with 
incandescent light, simple to fill in the shadows 
to the point you wish. In sunlight, reflec¬ 
tors can be used for filling in shadows. Naturally, 
on some sets it will be impractical to try to build 
up the shadows with reflected light. In these cases, 
it is a matter of increasing your exposure to take 
care of the shadows. The amount of exposure, in 
such cases, will of course govern the amount of 
shadow detail the negative will pick up. Also, on a 
set of this type, the negative development must be 
carefully watched, since too long a development 
will block up the highlights. On the other hand, 
on a set where minimum exposure has been given, 
long development will be necessary to bring out 
the shadows, middle tones and highlights. There 
will be no need to worry about blocking up the 
highlights, since in a minimum exposure they have 
not been over-exposed, and therefore it will be 
impossible to block them in development, no 
matter how long development is carried on. It is 
wise to think of exposure and development as the 
two parts of an intimately connected sequence. 
The time of development depending to a great 
extent upon the exposure given. 

^ In the Introduction I have said more about 
minimum exposure. It is mentioned here as well 
since the text more or less introduced the subject. 


10 







M This photograph was made to illustrate an 
article on drunken driving. As can readily be imag¬ 
ined, the article was condemning the fact that so 
many accidents are caused by otherwise law abid¬ 
ing people who try to drink and drive in the same 
evening. This particular job had me worried, since 
in making an illustration of this kind it would be 
so easy to make the picture ridiculous rather than 
forbidding and dramatic, as it should be. I finally 
decided to try to make a "portrait” of a drunken 
driver. I felt that by using a man model dressed in 
a tuxedo, I could put over the idea of a party, 
where the average person usually does his drinking. 
By mussing the model’s hair and tie, and using a 
drooping cigarette, the idea of a man about ready 
to "pass out” could be put over. 

■K By working with the model for a couple of 
hours, it was possible to talk and tire him into the 
mood I desired • I knew that the most important 
part of the picture would be the model’s eyes, since 
liquor seems to affect a person’s eyes most notice¬ 
ably. By using an eye dropper and slightly soapy 
water, his eyes were made to squint and assume the 
drunken appearance desired. 

In composing the photograph, I tried to get 
the head up as big as possible and still tell the 
story. By using the steering wheel of a car, it was 
possible to indicate definitely that the man was 
driving; and by using the curve of the wheel and 
placing the model at an angle, the picture was 
given a feeling of instability. The fact that the 
curve of the wheel and the angle of the model’s 
body both are in the same direction gives the feel¬ 


ing that the model will topple over at any moment, 
which is exactly what was wanted. Also, by the 
placement of his hands, the right hand on the spoke 
of the wheel in the lower left-hand corner is much 
heavier than the part of the other hand showing 
on the right side of the print. This tends to keep 
the weight on the left side, which in turn tends to 
keep the feeling of movement toward the left. 
Also, the weight of the head being further to the 
left side of the print, helps to increase the feeling 
of movement to the left. By placing his nose just 
on the rim of the wheel, it was possible to give 
a still greater feeling of the man’s approaching 
collapse • The line across the bottom of the print 
was put in to add further to the confusion in the 
composition, since in this picture, I felt that a 
jumbled, or confusing composition would help put 
over the idea of the confused mind of the driver. 
Also, it would be distasteful to the reader, and, I 
hoped, jolt him into reading the article. The atten¬ 
tion value would, I believed, be obtained by the 
strong contrast between the lights and the darks. 

-K In making this photograph the View camera 
and the Heliar lens were used. The camera was 
placed on top of the hood of a convertible coupe; 
the windshield was the type which folded down. 
The camera angle here was shooting up from 
below, which gave a more dramatic feeling. It also 
made the model look more ugly and unsympa¬ 
thetic. 

M The lighting on the set was very important. By 
making it spotty and hard, I tried to add to the 
feeling of revulsion, and also make the picture 


12 






★ ★ ★ 


more confused, which helped to further the idea of 
instability. (See diagram.) In addition, the lighting 
coming from below as it does, adds realism to the 
picture, since in night driving the light from the 
dashboard hits the face at about the same angle* Only 
two lights were used for this photograph. One was a 
photoflood placed in a small reflector on the floor 
of the car, about even with the foot brake and 
pointing up into the model’s face. The other light 
was the same size photoflood in a similar reflector. 
This was used as general illumination and was 
placed in back of the camera about eight feet from 
the subject. The background was kept black to help 
intensify the feeling of impending disaster or 
horror, and also because the attention value of the 
print more or less depended upon the contrasts. 
M The placement of the lights and darks was 
quite important. The darks of the wheel against 
the model’s white shirt give depth, as well as 
contrast. Also, the line of light on the steering 
wheel indicates definitely that it is a steering wheel, 
and stands it out from the face. The light on the 
top of the nose brings it over the wheel, which 
helps further the idea of the model’s imminent 
collapse. Also, the fact that the top of the wheel is 
silhouetted against the model’s face helps give 
form to the wheel, while the very small line of 
light on the left top side of the wheel helps to give 
a continuing line to what would otherwise be a 
black wheel, which would be lost against the dark 
background 

The strong light on the hands stands them out 
from the background, and at the same time gives 
a spottiness to the print which I hope irritates the 
viewer. I know that the left hand of the driver, 
which is on the edge of the print, is irritating to 
me, and it was a great temptation to print it down. 
However, I felt that if possible this picture should 
make the reader uncomfortable, and at the same 
time interest him to the point of reading the article. 
I placed the light so that there would be just 
enough thrown into the eyes of the model to let 
the viewer see that they looked drunken, and still 


keep the black shadows around them to suggest 
dissipation. By keeping the face dark on the right 
side, and the ear hot, added depth was given to the 
head. The small amount of light on the forehead 
is just enough to give the hair a look of mussiness. 

Several lines back, I mentioned that the com¬ 
position of this picture is confusing. It was de¬ 
liberately made so to further the general feeling 
of the picture. According to the majority of books 
on composition, there are various rules, or laws, 
which if followed, will result in well composed 
pictures. As I understand it, these rules are based 
on the expected psychological reactions of the 
viewer. While such rules do hold in numerous 
cases, there are also times when it is advantageous 
to break them to further the effect desired in a 
picture. 

-K As with lighting, composition must be based 
on the subject itself, and the manner in which 
the photographer wishes to present the subject. 
Any formula, or scheme for composing a picture 
will be weak for the same reason a portrait lighting 
based on some other person’s diagram of a light¬ 
ing is weak; because there are never any two 
sets exactly alike • It is certainly important that 
a photographer learn the rules, or laws of com¬ 
position so that he can break them intelligently. 
But composition is not so much the application of 
a series of rules, as it is a reflection of taste and 
understanding. 

The negative was developed out to its limit, 
since I wanted a very hard and contrasty print. The 
time on development ran about one and one-half 
hours. 

-kin printing, there was some local printing on 
the lower part of the wheel, since in using the 
photoflood so close, the black was burned out of it. 
It was necessary to print it in locally for about 
twenty seconds. The printing time was fifteen sec¬ 
onds at F: 11 for the whole print, and the develop¬ 
ment time ran two minutes, to give the best 
possible blacks. 


13 















M While on an assignment for a national maga¬ 
zine, this photograph, as well as several others, was 
made to illustrate a story on Mr. Haughton Ralph. 
Mr. Ralph is an expert swimmer and diver, and as 
a hobby indulges in the sport known as Skin Div¬ 
ing. This simply means that the diving is done 
without the use of a regular diving suit and other 
usual equipment. Mr. Ralph dives to a depth of 
thirty or forty feet and scoops up lobsters and 
abalone from the bottom of the ocean. 

•¥■ The photograph was to be reproduced in roto¬ 
gravure. This required a print with a maximum 
amount of detail but still holding fairly strong 
contrasts, while carrying detail in the highlights 
and shadows. The art buyer for the magazine 
wanted an interesting photograph which would 
picture Mr. Ralph in an atmosphere logically asso¬ 
ciated with skin diving. Principally due to the 
subject’s limited time, it was impossible to do any 
planning before making the photograph, so it really 
resolved itself into more or less of a "grab shot.” 
We were forced to wade out to some rocks a short 
distance off shore. It was impossible to shoot from 
the beach because the sun was directly off shore 
and there was no way to get the proper lighting on 
Mr. Ralph from that direction. 

The photographs were made during a space 
of about ten minutes. Mr. Ralph went through his 
usual procedure of diving and getting abalone and 
lobsters, and I photographed him the best way I 
could under the circumstances. While the results 
were not quite as dramatic as I would have liked, 
they did clearly show the diver in a location which 


would tie in with the story. It was rather trying to 
shoot from the particular spot picked, since the 
larger waves broke completely over the rocks I was 
standing upon, so that it was necessary to not only 
try to watch Mr. Ralph, but the waves as well. Each 
time a big one came along, the Graflex had to be 
held above my head at arm’s length, while I prayed 
for a stepladder. 

■¥ For this particular photograph the Graflex 
was used upside down and focused by looking up 
instead of down into the hood. By doing this I 
was able to get more camera height, which gave 
more of a feeling that the diver was rising up out 
of the sea. It also gave an even background of 
water. If the camera had been used from a lower 
angle, the background would have become cluttered 
up by the beach and the large crowd of people 
watching that "damnfool with a camera.” The 
camera was equipped with the Cassar lens. 

■+* Since the photographs were made without 
posing or any particular beforehand planning, the 
picture was cropped to balance afterwards. It was 
cropped so that the figure is just off-center to the 
right side of the print. This, and the weight of 
Mr. Ralph’s left arm help to balance the weight of 
his right hand and the lobster, as well as the weight 
caused by the direction of his head and eyes • The 
diagonal lines caused by the waves were a fortunate 
break, in that they help to counteract the strong 
vertical line caused by the figure, and also give a 
semblance of pattern to the background. The photo¬ 
graph naturally derives its attention value and 
interest from the subject matter and the technical 


15 






★ ★ ★ 


quality of the photograph • In action photographs, 
or on sets where it is impossible to compose your 
picture exactly in the ground glass, or in the finder 
of your camera, shoot so that your interest in the 
picture is fairly near the center of the negative. 
In such cases, the easiest way I have found to get 
the composition I want in the finished print is by 
the use of a pair of L’s, which are placed on a con¬ 
tact proof. By shifting the L’s about, I can get a 
definite idea of how I want the final print cropped. 
L’s can be made of cardboard or brass, and should 
be about an inch wide. Their length will depend 
upon the size negative you are cropping. 

"K Using the Graflex as was done in taking this 
photograph requires a little practice, but is a very 
good way in which to get camera height in cases 
where it is impossible or impractical to use a step- 
ladder, or other means of getting elevation. By 
throwing your head back and letting the hood of 
the Graflex rest over your eyes, it is possible to 
raise the level of the camera from three to five feet. 
However, by reversing the camera in this manner, 
you will be forced to focus it with your left hand, 
and trip the shutter with your right hand. It is also 
advisable to make sure your lens board is securely 
fastened, since in reversing the camera the weight 
of the lens will push down onto the spring clip 
which holds the lens board in place, and is liable 
to cause it to fall out of the camera. Also, due to 
the fact that the camera will not at all times be too 
steady, I would advise that you use a shutter speed 
of around 1/75 of a second. 

-KThe lighting on this photograph was of 
course sunlight. It was very late afternoon. In 
fact, the sun set just as we finished making the 
last shot, and while shooting the sun was practi¬ 
cally in back of the camera. A great deal of the 
attention value of the print is due to the strong 
contrast between the light tone of the subject’s 
skin and the dark tone of the water. The texture 
of his wet skin, and that of the water also help the 
interest in the picture. The dark and light pattern 
in the background waves was fortunate in that the 


darker part of the top of the head is brought out 
more strongly by the fact that the lighter portion 
of the waves is directly in back of it. 

The exposure here was 1/75 of a second at 
F:18. This was the minimum exposure. (Explana¬ 
tion will be found in the Introduction). This high¬ 
light exposure was necessary to render the texture 
of the skin, and also that of the water, as realis¬ 
tically as possible. Due to the fact that there were 
no shadows of any consequence in the set, and that 
the sunlight was so directly front, flat light, it was 
necessary to keep the exposure down. Over-expos¬ 
ure here would have filled in the skin to a degree 
where it would have looked too white and smooth. 
Also, the rendering of the water on the diver’s skin 
would have suffered, and the background of water 
would have been rendered in a lighter tone, since 
the shadow sides of the waves, due to the large 
amount of reflected light, would have been brought 
up in value. The result of over-exposure would 
have been a general flattening of the whole print. 

The development of the negative was about 
one and one-half hours. This brought out the deli¬ 
cate middle tones which help to give textures, and 
also gave a good strong white in the glove. In spite 
of the very full development highlight detail is well 
carried. The reader will recall that in discussing 
minimum exposure it was stated that it was impos¬ 
sible to block the highlights even with prolonged 
development when such an exposure was given. It 
might be added that it is very difficult to carry such 
detail as drops of water on flesh by any other means. 
Any over-exposure with prolonged development 
will block the highlights, but unless full develop¬ 
ment is given, the delicate high key tones which are 
so close together in actuality, cannot be separated in 
the negative. 

The print was made from about a 214x314 
inch portion of the negative; without any local 
printing. Exposure was about thirteen seconds at 
F:ll; development was about one and one-half 
minutes. 


16 









M This photograph was ordered by an exclusive 
specialty shop. The order was for a striking photo¬ 
graph which by its subject matter would have some 
association with bowling. It was not to be an illus¬ 
tration of any particular phase of the sport, but was 
to be used simply as decoration for an article about 
bowling. The article was to be used as a direct mail 
piece, and directed toward a rather sophisticated 
market. The printing of the finished piece would 
be well done on a good stock; and also, the cut 
would be on a fine screen, about 150 line. This of 
course insured a final reproduction which would 
carry good blacks, delicate middle tones and clean 
highlights. So it was possible to make a print which 
carried all these qualities. 

-K The fact that the photograph was to be used 
as a decoration on the page, and that it should be 
striking, meant that it was being used for the pur¬ 
pose of attracting the reader’s attention to the 
article itself. The first requisite of the photograph 
was that it have punch and attention value. Two 
very good means of creating attention value in a 
print are by the use of contrast and by the use of 
pattern. By using the bowling pins as the subject, 
I was able to obtain a pattern and, at the same time 
use a subject definitely related to bowling. Also, 
the fact that the bowling pins have an interesting 
shape helped to increase the interest. The designs 
already on the pins helped in strengthening the 
pattern in the print. 

In composing the pins, the arrangement was 
naturally based upon the idea of creating pattern. 
However, since the pins themselves are so evenly 


balanced, a shot in which they were standing verti¬ 
cally would kill some of the interest created by the 
pattern, since the even balance plus the even pat¬ 
tern would tend to become monotonous at first 
glance. By tipping the camera, it was possible to 
add more action and life to the picture. A feeling 
of suspense is created, for everyone thinks of a 
bowling pin as either being on its side in a hori¬ 
zontal line, or on its base in a vertical line, since 
due to their shape and balance it is impossible to 
stand them any other way. This sharp angle of the 
pins helps create more interest, and the close crop¬ 
ping on the print helps to further this interest by 
bringing them up larger, which gives them a 
gigantic, unusual appearance since there is nothing 
else in the picture with which to compare them for 
size. The close cropping also strengthens the feeling 
of the pattern, since by cropping into the pins the 
feeling is given that they continue on indefinitely. 
M The point of interest in the picture is of course 
the largest pin, which is placed so that it stands 
out from the rest. This pin is placed off-center to 
help further in keeping the print from becoming 
too static, or monotonous. Had the foremost pin 
been placed directly in the center, with the rest 
evenly placed on both sides, the result would have 
been definitely static. This larger pin is balanced 
by the three on its right and by the two on its left. 
In this particular case one could assume that the 
larger pin is the center pole on a teeter-totter. The 
two heavier pins on the left are in close to the pole, 
while to balance them the three lighter pins on the 
right are placed further away from the center. If 


18 










★ ★ ★ 


the small part of the pin in the upper, right-hand 
corner were eliminated, the composition would 
become unbalanced and the weight of the left side 
would be too much for the weight of the two 
remaining pins on the right side. 

M The camera lens in this shot was placed about 
even with the base of the pins. There are two 
reasons for this. From this angle more height and 
size are given to the pins, and the designs on the 
necks are kept from lining up too evenly. If, for 
example, the dark bands around the pins had all 
met on a straight line, this again would have 
tended toward monotony in the print. 

"K The lighting on this set-up was important, 
since due to the fact that the bowling pins are all 
the same shape, the viewer must have something 
else at which to look, after being attracted by the 
pattern and contrast. The placement of the lights 
and darks, and the small amount of texture available 
must be used to hold interest long enough to give 
the article a chance for attention. The contrast 
of the print had to be obtained by lighting. 

-K The lighting was done with three 500 watt 
spotlights and one small broadlight, using a small 
photoflood. (See diagram on facing page.) A spot 
was placed on each side of the pins to cross light 
them, and one spotlight was used to give the circular 
form of light on the pin on the right side of the 
print. The broadlight was used to light a gray flat 
which formed the background. This broadlight was 
directed onto the background about even with the 
bottom of the pins, which gives the flat a slightly 
lighter tone at the bottom than at the top. The 
cross light caused by the spotlights gives the pins 
form, and by the light and dark pattern gives depth 
to the print. The circular light on the pin on the 
right side of the picture is used to help break up 
the monotony of a too similar lighting on all the 
pins. Also, this light area is needed to balance the 
heavier dark areas on the rest of the print. You 
will notice that the foremost pin carries a dark 
shadow down the front, and from this shadow the 
tones build up to a stronger light on the edges of 


the pin. The lighter tones on the edges are backed 
by areas of dark on the pins immediately behind 
this one. These areas of dark in turn run to lighter 
tones which are in turn backed by areas of dark. 
You will also notice that the first pin on the 
right of the largest one has a line of light on one 
edge which stands it out from the one directly be¬ 
hind it. Wherever it was possible, a light area 
was placed against a darker area, or vice versa. 

-KI believe this print demonstrates, perhaps 
better than any of the others in this book, the 
importance of the use of light and dark placement 
to give form and contrast to a picture. Had the 
light on this set-up been directed from in front of 
the pins, the effect created would have made it 
appear that the first pin had been pushed back 
against the others, and they in turn had been 
pushed back against the background. The result 
would have been a flat, unattractive picture, with 
all of the pins seemingly placed on one plane. 

This photograph was made with the View 
camera and the Heliar lens. The lens was stopped 
to F:32, but slightly front focused to allow the pins 
in the background to fall off very slightly. This 
helped to give a greater illusion of depth to the 
picture, since by playing the crisp sharpness of the 
foremost pin against the slightly soft form of the 
back ones, it tended to place the front pin on a 
separate plane. The exposure was about V 2 second 
at F: 32, which gave practically minimum exposure 
and insured definite blacks in the deeper shadows. 
Also, the critical sharpness on the foremost pin, 
plus the minimum exposure, helped to render the 
texture more realistically. The texture, in turn, 
helps to add interest to the picture. 

M The negative was developed about one and 
one-half hours, which enabled the very highest 
lights to block up, and thus give a sheen to the 
pins, and bring out a few small areas of clean 
whites. In printing the negative there was no man¬ 
ipulation necessary, and the print was developed 
about two minutes, to give maximum contrast. The 
exposure on the enlarger was nine seconds at F:ll. 


19 












M A firm whose chief business is raising orchids 
wanted to promote the use of orchids as corsages 
for afternoon wear. This photograph was made as 
one of a series for this purpose. The agency han¬ 
dling the account wanted a photograph of a 
fashionably dressed model wearing a corsage of 
orchids. The set had to be outside to definitely 
indicate daylight. They wanted the picture to show 
as much as possible of the model and her costume 
and still display the orchids as prominently as 
possible. 

■K The photograph was to be used for counter 
cards in florist shops. Since it would be viewed by 
people already interested in flowers, its main pur¬ 
pose was to sell an idea; namely, orchids for after¬ 
noon wear, and not to sell any particular kind of 
orchid. Since it was to be a counter card, the photo¬ 
graph required a poster treatment, similar to a 
magazine cover in that it must attract attention 
from a distance rather than from arm’s length. 

M The first consideration was that the photo¬ 
graph must attract the passerby, and display the 
orchids at a glance. In order to attract attention 
from a distance, exceedingly strong contrast was 
needed. To help add interest, besides attracting 
attention, it was necessary to take advantage of the 
texture in the model’s clothes. By using a very 
light-toned brick wall, it was possible to get good 
strong contrast by dressing the model in a dark 
costume. The pattern of the brick also helps in 
attracting attention. The fact that the model s 
clothes are dark is an added advantage since it was 
possible to spot the lighter-toned orchids against 


them. It was necessary to keep the costume plain, 
since a patterned one would have detracted interest 
from the orchids, as well as caused confusion be¬ 
tween the two patterns. The texture of the orchids 
is played against that of the model’s dress, and this 
is finally contrasted against the harder texture of 
the brick • The small flowers in the lower left hand 
corner of the print were used for several reasons. 
By contrasting the daisies and the orchids, the 
orchids appear larger and more beautiful; and the 
observer cannot escape the idea of flowers when 
glancing at the picture. They also give a logical 
reason for the model to stand in such a position 
that the orchids are displayed to their best advan¬ 
tage. And, by keeping the model’s face in profile 
and directed downward, it was possible to keep the 
major interest on the orchids. If she were looking 
directly out toward the front of the picture, due to 
the attention value of her face she would attract 
attention, and it is quite possible that the viewer, 
by being too interested in her face, would miss the 
orchids. 

-K The photograph was of course composed with 
the idea of keeping the orchids as important as 
possible. The lines of the arms, one repeating the 
other, give emphasis to the flowers, since they form 
a directional line toward the corsage. The line 
formed by the fur cape also leads to the orchids, 
and by turning the model’s head to the side and 
tipping it slightly downward, it was possible to 
minimize the break in this line. The weight of the 
darks caused by the daisies in the lower left corner 
of the print, and that caused by the model being 


21 









★ ★ ★ 


slightly to the left side of the set, plus the weight 
of the directional lines of her head and arms, is 
balanced by the weight of the vertical line of the 
casement and the shadow cast by the figure, as well 
as by the light fixture and its shadow in the upper 
right-hand corner. 

M The camera lens was placed a little above the 
waist level of the model. This seemed to give the 
best angle on the orchids • The shot was made in 
sunlight, and the sun was at about a forty degree 
angle to the ground and was a cross light on the 
figure, although slightly to the front. (See diagram 
on preceeding page.) This cross light was needed 
to help stand out the orchids from the plane of 
the fur, and also stand out the figure from the 
wall. It helped render the texture of the wall 
and the model’s clothes, and gave excellent model¬ 
ing on her face and arms. By the tilt of her 
head, this forty degree angle of sunlight helped to 
keep the face partly in shadow, which helps to 
minimize further the interest value of the face. It 
also cast the shadow of the figure on the wall, 
which was needed to balance the composition. 

In the dark and light pattern, the orchids, 
being light, are played against the dark of the cape, 
which is in turn backed by the lighter tone of the 
shadow part of the wall, which is followed by the 
sunlit part of the wall. The gloves were worn on 
the hands instead of carried, because by keeping 
the hands down in key it was possible to keep them 
from becoming too important, since the fact that 
they are close to the edge of the print and sur¬ 
rounded by darks, plus the fact that the directional 
line of the head is toward them, would all have 
tended to make them much too important in the 
set if they had the added contrast of being the same 
tone as the arms. Also, the fact that their shape is 
irregular would have made them even more impor¬ 
tant. And if they had become important as a spot 
to attract the eye, the attention value of the print 
would have suffered, in that the interest would be 
divided between the spot made by the light orchids 
against the dark cape, and the light hands against 


the darker background of the daisies and the 
model’s dress. 

M The exposure on this set was about six times 
the minimum exposure. This was because of the 
fact that it was necessary to carry the texture in the 
dark fur and the costume worn by the model, and 
it would have been impractical to try to fill in the 
dark fur and dress with reflected light. If, for ex¬ 
ample, a minimum exposure had been given on 
this set, the fine texture of the fur and the dress 
would have been entirely lost, and instead they 
would have been rendered as a more or less black 
hole. This of course would have ruined the picture 
entirely. 

* The Graflex and the Cassar lens were used 
here. The Graflex was placed on a tripod, and the 
exposure was about 1/10 of a second at F: 18 • The 
development on the negative was very important, 
since with the large amount of light impinged on 
the negative by the exposure, the chance of over¬ 
development was very great. With the slightest 
over-development on the negative the arms and 
face would have blocked up and in the finished 
print become pasty-looking. The orchids as well 
would have blocked up, and become a glaring 
white against the dark costume. And worst of all, 
the brick wall would have blocked up, to become 
a hard white sheet of paper. If printed down to 
give detail and texture, the darks in the print would 
have lost their texture and gone dead black. Under¬ 
development would have given the finished print 
a very muddy appearance. The black dress would 
have been a washed-out gray and the whites in 
the wall and orchids would have been weak and 
degraded. 

M The development time on this negative was 
seven minutes. Notice how short this is compared 
to other times given. My only purpose in giving 
these times is to impress the reader with the varia¬ 
tion which is called for when development time 
is properly controlled. The print was straight, and 
ran about twenty seconds at F:ll, and was de¬ 
veloped for about one and one-half minutes. 


22 














M This photograph was ordered to be used as an 
illustration in an advertisement to run full page in 
a national magazine. The advertising manager 
wanted to use the headline: "She knows what to 
wear on opening night,” and the photograph was 
to fit that particular headline. The illustration was 
to show not only the costume to its best advantage, 
but also create a realistic setting of an opening 
night. Since the magazine to be used does a good 
printing job and uses a good stock, it was possible 
to take advantage of good blacks, fairly delicate 
middle tones, and clean whites. 

■¥ In planning the picture, I realized that too 
much stress on the opening night theme would 
tend to weaken the attention which the product 
should receive. Also, if a model were posed without 
reason in front of a typical opening night scene, the 
picture would lose interest and authenticity, two 
qualities which were very necessary because of the 
headline. For a headline of this sort, one which 
makes a definite statement, the illustration should 
above all things be authentic and realistic, since a 
person reading the headline and then looking at 
an obviously faked illustration, will not only ques¬ 
tion the statement, but become rather offended, 
since no one enjoys having someone else attempt 
to put something over on him • It was necessary 
to pose the model in such a position that she would 
stand out from the background and show the cos¬ 
tume, and still have some logical reason for being 
in that particular place. Since it is the practice at 
all openings to have broadcasting equipment, it 
would be logical for the model to be waiting while 


her escort was busy at the microphone. Since she 
must have an escort, this was a means of keeping 
him out of the way to give the costume a better 
break so far as attention was concerned. 

In composing the picture, the use of the two 
large sun arcs would, by their circular areas of 
almost clean whites, afford the contrast needed to 
give attention value to the print. They would also 
add realism to the set, since particularly in Holly¬ 
wood, all openings are announced by the use of 
many of these lights. The figure of the model was 
posed in the immediate foreground to display the 
merchandise as strongly as possible. And she was 
placed so that her head was backed by these strong 
light areas of the print. The column of stone on 
the left side of the print was used to help balance 
the weight of the lights and the dress model and 
also to stand out the figures of the announcer and 
escort. It also helped the realism of the set by 
suggesting the entrance to a building. The model’s 
face was turned toward the mike to help create 
the feeling that she was waiting for her escort, and 
also to keep as much interest on the costume as 
possible, since her face would tend to attract 
attention away from the costume. 

The lens of the camera was placed about two 
and a half feet above the ground in this shot. It 
gave height to the model in the foreground, as 
well as the lights and pillar in the background. 
This low angle also helped to emphasize the lines 
of the costume. 

* The lighting on this set was important and 
rather involved. (See diagram above.) The figure 


24 








★ ★ ★ 


in the foreground was lit to stand out from the 
rest of the picture. In order to do this it was neces¬ 
sary to use a cross light as well as push considerably 
more front light on her than on the rest of the set. 
The arc lights were directed up into the sky and 
the only light used from them was leak light. This 
leak light helped in standing out the dress model’s 
head from the background by outlining the edge 
of her head with light. It also gave a highlight 
to the silk hat worn by the escort, and a line of 
light along the announcer’s profile. 

The general illumination of the set was ob¬ 
tained with five 2500 watt broads placed about 
twelve feet high and in a line with the camera. 
This gave a fairly even flat light. A 1000 watt spot¬ 
light was directed onto the two figures at the mike 
and onto the dress model from the left side of the 
picture, about ten feet away and about five feet 
high. This helped to pick them up from the back¬ 
ground. A 2500 watt spot was directed onto the 
dress model from the left side about ten feet 
away and five feet high. Then a low front light of 
1000 watts, about ground level and from along¬ 
side the camera, was directed onto the dress model. 
A 5000 watt spotlight was used to cross light her, 
coming in from the right side of the print. This 
light was about six feet high and about ten feet 
from the model. It gave a direction to the lighting 
and helped considerably in pushing the model out 
from the background. To give further direction to 
the lighting, a 2500 watt spotlight was used to 
cross light the crowd, being flooded out and di¬ 
rected into the picture from the right; about four 
feet out from the right edge of the picture and 
about six feet high. 

The light and dark pattern in the picture is 
carried out by the placing of the dress model, the 
largest light area, in front of the darker values of 
the crowd. You will notice that the crowd figures 
directly behind her are in dark clothes. This helps 
to stand out the costume. The dark suits of the 
announcer and escort are backed by the lighter 
values of the stone pillar, and the strong whites of 


the sun arcs are emphasized by the black sky. 

M This shot was made with the View camera and 
the Heliar lens. The exposure was about five stops 
above the minimum. This exposure was needed 
since the set was very contrasty, due to the ex¬ 
tremely strong light areas caused by the sun arcs, 
and the extremely dark areas caused by the dress 
clothes worn by the men models. While no detail 
was needed in the darks on the set, a minimum 
exposure would have rendered the darks as clear 
celluloid on the negative and in the finished print 
they would have looked vacant. To indicate that the 
figures had on dress clothes, it was necessary to carry 
a tone in the blacks. Also, since the shot was made 
outside at night, there was practically no reflected 
light, and the size of the set made it rather imprac¬ 
tical to build up the shadows to their proper rela¬ 
tion to the highlights for a minimum exposure. 
The shutter speed was 1/10 of a second at a stop 
of F:22. A slower shutter speed would have prob¬ 
ably resulted in too much movement in the crowd 
figures • A slightly front focus was used on the 
set, in order to further emphasize the costume. By 
keeping the figures in the background slightly soft, 
and the costume in sharp focus, the figure in the 
foreground is definitely pushed out toward the 
viewer. Also, the fact that the background is slightly 
soft gives a greater illusion of depth and distance 
between the foreground and the background. 

-K The development of the negative was very 
important, since with the amount of exposure on 
the negative too much development would have 
blocked up the highlights, and caused the print to 
become too hard. Naturally, the terrific amount of 
light in the sun arcs caused them to block up, which 
was necessary anyhow to render them as strong, 
hard lights. However, if the lighter areas on the 
costume had blocked, the dress itself would have 
suffered. The development on the negative ran 
about fifteen minutes. 

-k The print was straight, and was made at twenty - 
five seconds at F:ll, and developed for one and 
one-half minutes. 


25 

















M This photograph was ordered by a rotogravure 
firm, to be used as an illustration in an advertise¬ 
ment for the purpose of promoting the use of 
rotogravure in advertising. Since the ad was to run 
in publications which were distributed to the ad¬ 
vertising profession, the audience it would reach 
was a very critical one. It was necessary to plan the 
illustration to appeal to critical buyers of not only 
rotogravure, but photographs as well. Naturally 
enough, the illustration was to be printed in 
rotogravure. 

A photograph of a typical American boy was 
wanted by the advertising manager. He also wanted 
the photograph to be as natural as possible. In 
choosing a model for the picture, it was important 
to find a boy who was not too much the typical 
"model type” which appears so often in advertising 
illustrations. Of course, in an illustration of this 
kind, the model either makes or ruins the picture, 
so I was particularly fortunate in finding Spud, who 
happened to be the son of a friend. I don’t think 
there can be any question but that he is a very 
masculine type of boy. He appears in the photo¬ 
graph just as I had hoped he would—alive, healthy, 
inquisitive and full of the devil • The headline in 
the ad was "Realism.” To make an illustration to 
stand up to this headline required making a photo¬ 
graph which had excellent texture and photogra¬ 
phic quality, and above all, a pose for the model 
which was as natural and candid as possible. 

-K In composing the photograph, a wooden fence 
was used for the background for several reasons. 
One was that boys of Spud’s age are often playing 


on and around old fences. Also, to keep the interest 
on the boy, the background should be simple, and 
the fence provided just the simple background 
desired. It also provided a texture which, by playing 
against the textures of the boy’s head, hair and 
sweater, added more interest and realism to the 
photograph. 

M In posing Spud against the fence, I purposely 
angled the lines of the boards and the painted line 
of the fence to keep the composition from becom¬ 
ing too static. I also attempted to have the line of 
Spud’s head repeat the line of the boards, and his 
shoulders repeat the painted line on the fence. 
These repeat lines give added interest, and help keep 
the picture alive. I also tried to keep the lines 
formed by the neck of his sweater and shoulders all 
leading to the head, which of course is the real 
interest in the picture • The camera was placed at 
about the level of the subject’s chin, which gave a 
better line to the neck, and also slightly broadened 
the shoulders. This was needed to form a better 
base for the head itself. 

M The lighting was sunlight. The direction of 
the light was from the side and top, which gave 
good modeling to the head. The side light also 
helped considerably in the rendering of textures. 
This light stands out the freckled nose, which is a 
very important part of the picture, from the stand¬ 
point of adding realism to the illustration. It also 
picks up the hair and sweater, which helps in 
playing these two soft textures against the harder 
texture of the wooden fence. 

The light from this angle created an interest- 


27 









★ ★ ★ 


ing light and dark pattern in the illustration. The 
sweater, which is the strongest light in the print, 
steps forward against the darker tone of the throat, 
which is in turn backed by the lighter tone of the 
fence. The darker tones on the side of the face run 
to the lighter tones of the forehead and nose, which 
in turn are backed by the darks of the painted fence. 
The touch of sunlight on the ear helps to stand it 
out from the darker tones of the hair. If this spot 
of sunlight were absent, that portion of the picture 
would appear much less interesting, since the ear 
would fall onto the same plane as the rest of the 
head, and the print would lose some of its depth. 
M In making the exposure, it was necessary to 
shoot fast enough to stop the action of the model’s 
eyes and mouth. In order to get a natural pose and 
expression on his face, it was necessary to place him 
in position against the fence, then by talking to 
him, get his mind off the camera, to relax and talk 
to me; then, shoot when his face expressed what 
was wanted. 

■+* For this picture the Graflex and the Cassar lens 
were used. The Graflex is excellent for this type of 
work, since by keeping your eyes on the ground 
glass, it is possible to catch the expression you 
desire when it flickers across the model’s face. A 
shutter speed of 1/75 of a second was used. As the 
subject was in strong sunlight, and the beach we 
were on reflected considerable light into the 
shadows, I stopped to F: 16. This was not the mini¬ 
mum exposure. The minimum was not given be¬ 
cause the sweater was very high in key, while the 
shadow side of the subject’s neck was fairly dark. 
Also, the camera lens was quite close to him, which 
took even more exposure than had I been making 
a full length picture. In addition, since the photo¬ 
graph was to be used in rotogravure, it was neces¬ 
sary to get all the detail possible in both the 
shadows and the highlights, and keep the contrast 
fairly low, since contrast is stepped up, or intensi¬ 
fied in the rotogravure process. At 1/75 of a second 
it was possible to catch any expression which 
moved across the model’s face, and with a stop of 


16, to carry the focus from his left shoulder, which 
was closer to the camera than his head, to the back¬ 
ground itself. It was important to keep both the 
sweater and the fence sharp in order to pick up as 
much texture as possible. 

M I would like to add a note here on what seems 
to be a common fault with a great many beginners’ 
photographs. So many of these photographs seem 
to lack a feeling of naturalness and realism. Natural¬ 
ness is a big asset to the majority of photo¬ 
graphs • The boy in the photograph here is squint¬ 
ing. The fact that he was photographed under 
bright sunlight makes his squinting logical and 
natural. Had I attempted to photograph him under 
this lighting condition with his eyes wide open, the 
picture would have suffered, in that some of the 
realism would have been lost. 

It has been my experience that anything one 
does in lighting, posing or composition should have 
a reason. If that reason is logical, the results will 
be logical and acceptable. 

The development of the negative was very 
important, since the slightest over-development 
would have blocked the detail in the highlights on 
the sweater, nose and hair, which after all, really 
make the picture. Furthermore, any under-develop¬ 
ment would have tended to degrade the whites of 
the sweater, as well as weakened the rendition of the 
texture of the hair and nose, which in turn would 
have taken the brilliance out of the print, and 
considerably weakened its attention value. The 
negative was developed about twenty minutes. 

* In printing the negative, the only local print¬ 
ing which was necessary was in both the bottom 
corners. These were printed down to keep the 
viewer’s attention on the head, since a strong white 
near the corner of a print tends to become distract¬ 
ing. Also, the darkening of these corners tends to 
keep the viewer’s attention from following the lines 
of the shoulders out of the print. The print was 
exposed for fifteen seconds, while the local printing 
ran two seconds more. The print was developed for 
one and one-half minutes. 


28 











-K This photograph was made to fill an order for 
a magazine cover. The magazine deals almost exclu¬ 
sively with western subjects, most of them in some 
way connected with the out-of-doors. For this cover 
the editor wanted a good-looking model astride a 
typically western horse. The printing and plates 
would be above the average, as they usually are for 
covers, which would allow a long scale treatment in 
the photograph, with delicate tones being held in 
the reproduction. 

-K A magazine cover is really a form of poster, due 
to the fact that it must catch the reader’s eye "on 
the run,” as you might say. Whether on a newsstand 
or a living-room table, it differs from an illustra¬ 
tion which would be used inside the magazine, in 
that the viewer is not necessarily reading the maga¬ 
zine, but may be only glancing over a rack or table 
covered with several different ones. These condi¬ 
tions require that a cover illustration have a very 
strong attention value and at the same time be 
simply designed, with fairly large masses which 
will attract the eye from a greater distance than is 
necessary with the usual illustration. A great num¬ 
ber of small details would in most cases be lost to 
the viewer, and might tend to weaken the picture 
by causing a scattering of interest. Naturally all 
advertising illustrations should carry punch, but in 
most cases they can work at closer range than 
magazine covers. 

-K In preparing for this photograph, the horse 
and model were the most important considerations. 
The horse had to be big, rangy and typically west¬ 
ern. The horse had to be big also to help create 


attention value; and by contrasting the size of the 
horse and the model, more interest could be cre¬ 
ated. Since the name of the magazine was to be 
printed in white letters in the upper left corner of 
the background, it was necessary to render it a 
fairly dark tone. And in order to get contrast be¬ 
tween the horse and the background, the animal 
had to be fairly light in tone. A palomino horse 
was used, since it was light enough in tone to 
"sing” in the higher lights, and still give strong 
darks in the shadows. Had a white horse been used, 
the shadow areas of the animal would have 
remained as light, or possibly lighter than the back¬ 
ground, and the necessary strong darks in the 
picture would have been lost. 

M The clothes worn by the model were impor¬ 
tant in that they had to be the western, or dude 
ranch type. The dark jeans were used to help give 
stronger darks to the print, and the checkered shirt 
to create a pattern to add further to the attention 
value. The white hat was used to help stand out 
the model’s head against the sky, and also to help 
add a spot of white to the print • The horse and 
rider were photographed against the sky for two 
reasons: to keep the print as simple as possible, 
and to give a "country feeling” and the feeling of 
a large amount of space and air to the print. 

M The composition is very simple. The large, 
even field of gray is broken by a simple S curve, 
formed by the line of the body and head of the 
horse. The line formed by the shoulder and head 
of the horse is repeated by the shoulder and arm 
of the model, and further repeated by the line of 


30 






★ ★ ★ 


the hat she is wearing. The weight caused by the 
lighter mass of the front part of the horse is bal¬ 
anced by the darker area of the horse’s hindquarters 
and by the small spot of foliage in the lower right 
corner of the print. The line caused by the direction 
of both the model’s and the horse’s heads tends to 
help pull the balance to the right side of the picture. 
■K The camera angle was quite low. The Graflex 
was placed on the ground about two feet below the 
line of the horse’s hoofs. By using the 814 inch 
Cassar, it was possible to distort the horse slightly 
which, together with the low angle, gave a feeling 
of greater size and height to the horse. This was 
further increased by posing the animal in such a 
way that his front feet were on a higher level than 
his hind feet. This also adds interest, in that it 
causes the line formed by the back of the horse to 
run more on a diagonal rather than a horizontal 
line. This diagonal line gives more life to the 
animal, whereas a repeat of the horizontal base line 
would tend to "bog down” the horse too much. 
Had he been posed so that his front feet were on 
the same level as his hind feet, the interest created 
by the model and the horse’s head would have 
suffered, due to the fact that the hindquarters, by 
reason of being higher, would have lessened the 
effect of the apparent height of the entire horse. 
It was important that he should not become squatty, 
or static, and thus lose interest value. 

-K In posing the horse, it was necessary to have a 
handler place him in the right position and have 
the model hold her pose as long as possible. Then, 
by whistling and coaxing, we got the horse to move 
his head into the right position, and above all, get 
his ears up. A horse with its ears up and pointed 
is alive and very alert-looking. But one with its 
ears down seems very "dead on its feet.” 

The lighting was sunlight at about four-thirty, 
and was practically cross lighting. This was used 
to render the best possible texture, and also to keep 
the interest on the model and the horse’s head. By 
keeping them in strong light and minimizing the 
detail in the rest of the picture, it was possible to 


create good interest value in them. By this lighting 
it was also possible to create depth in the picture 
by the playing of the lighter values on the horse’s 
head and chest and the model’s head and upper 
part of her body, against the darker sky, while the 
darker shadow portions of the animal were played 
against the same sky, which was lighter in value 
than the darker portions of the horse, and gave 
still more form and interest to the picture. If, for 
example, the horse had been white, or the lighting 
had been from the front, a great deal of the form 
and depth in the print would have been lost. 

-K The exposure for this set was made through a 
23a red filter (Wratten) and was 1/50 of a second 
at F:l6. This exposure was about one stop above 
the minimum, since it was necessary to render 
enough detail in the shadows to show what was 
there, and yet keep them very much down in tone, 
so that their detail would not detract from the real 
interest in the picture—the heads of the horse and 
the girl. Also, it was necessary to render the sky 
dark enough to stand out the light portions of the 
horse and rider and still not lose the darker, or 
shadow areas, and it was impractical to fill in these 
shadow areas with reflected light. If the sky had 
gone lighter, the contrast between it and the horse’s 
head and the rider would have suffered. And, if 
the sky were rendered very much darker, the con¬ 
trast between the shadow areas of the horse and 
the sky would have been too little. 

■K The development of this negative ran about 
forty-five minutes, since there was nothing in the 
set-up which could block easily, except the white 
hat and the girl’s face and arms. And since some 
good strong lights were needed, this length of 
development brought them out without blocking 
the hat and flesh tones too strongly. 

The printing was straight except for the fore¬ 
ground, which was printed down for five seconds 
to give a stronger base to the picture, and also to 
keep it from hopping out onto the same plane with 
the point of interest. The printing time was about 
12 secs, at F: 11, with 2 minutes development. 


31 














M This photograph was made to be used as an 
illustration in a national magazine to advertise a 
popular orange drink. The advertising agency 
wanted a photograph of Miss Rochelle Hudson, and 
of course featuring the client’s product. In a job of 
this kind the photographer has really two important 
jobs to do in one photograph. In the first place, 
it is important to keep the product as much in 
evidence as possible, and at the same time it is 
necessary to show the star to her best advantage. 
Naturally enough, the agency is primarily interested 
in selling its client’s product. However, if the star 
is not photographed in a manner which will 
present her to best advantage, the studios will not 
release the photograph and the agency cannot use 
it. Another problem is that contrary to current 
opinion, stars are usually very busy people; so 
that the length of time a photographer ordinarily 
has in which to get his photograph is quite limited. 
For these reasons, the "tieup” jobs—the trade’s 
name for this type of photograph—are rather tough. 
M This particular shot was made on the lawn of 
Miss Hudson’s home. The lawn was used as a 
background in this case because it afforded a simple 
background and because it was a logical place for 
the use of the product. 

-K The set-up was arranged to show Miss Hudson 
in an atmosphere and position of relaxation, and 
of course an atmosphere which would logically 
suggest the use of the product. The composition is 
based on the shape of a triangle, which is formed 
by the angle of Miss Hudson’s back and arms to 
the lawn. The lines of the figure here are in direct 


contrast to the lines of the figure in the photograph 
of Miss Loretta Young; these are all toward the 
horizontal, which tends to give the feeling of rest 
and relaxation. You will notice that the lines 
formed by the bottle and straws are so arranged 
that they are in contrast to the other lines in the 
composition. This line contrast helps draw atten¬ 
tion to the product. Also, since the bottle was so 
small, it was necessary to place it in the immediate 
foreground of the picture. Miss Hudson’s hand is 
posed to give the feeling that she is able to push 
the bottle out of the picture to the viewer. It was 
important to have her hold the bottle so that the 
exact size and shape could be readily seen. The 
line caused by the straws is very instrumental in 
drawing attention to the product. 

M The camera lens in this shot was about two feet 
above the subject’s head. This was necessary to 
keep the background of the picture entirely lawn. 
A lower camera angle would have shown part of 
the garden or house, which would have broken up 
the even tone given by the lawn, and introduced 
distracting tones and shapes into the background, 
which would have scattered the interest. Since it 
was important to keep the reader’s interest on Miss 
Hudson’s face and the product, it would have been 
a mistake to take any chance of this happening. 

-K The lighting on the set was sunlight, and its 
direction was a cross light, slightly to the front 
and at about a forty degree angle to the ground. 
This light helped to give modeling and depth to 
the print, since it stood out the figure from the 
background, and gave good modeling to the face 


33 






★ ★ ★ 


and arms. It also helps to stand out the bottle. A 
reflector was used in quite close to fill in the shadow 
side of the arms, face and back. The shadow cast 
by the bottle onto the subject’s arm helps in 
attracting attention to the product by the repeat 
of the lines of the bottle itself. The shadow of the 
straws on Miss Hudson’s arm helps to separate the 
arm from the hand in back of it. The medium tone 
in the lawn back of the subject helps to outline the 
head and figure, since the hair and the shadow area 
of the subject’s back are lower in key than the 
background. The white ribbon in Miss Hudson’s 
hair is a strong accent, and by contrast with the 
hair gives the print attention value. It also helps 
to break up the dark area of her hair. The end of 
the scarf on her back is very necessary to break up 
the large area of even tone there. 

■fc The shot was made with the Graflex and the 
Cassar lens. The exposure was about one stop above 
the minimum: 1/50 of a second at F:18. This ex¬ 
posure was necessary in order to carry the needed 
detail in the lawn. Due to the fact that it is an 
exceedingly matte surface, as well as green in color, 
a grass lawn absorbs a great deal of light, and in 
using panchromatic film, which is least sensitive 
to green of all colors, it is necessary to be sure to 
give enough exposure to render the grass in its 
proper tone. It was necessary here to carry a light 
tone in the background to stand out the figure 
from the background. Less exposure would have 
caused the lawn to drop way down in value. 

The development on this negative ran about 
thirty minutes. It was necessary to watch the white 
ribbon on the hair closely, since it should be ren¬ 
dered as a definitely strong white, but not be 
allowed to block up too much. For example, forty 
minute development here would have blocked the 
bow on the ribbon so that it would have been just 
a white blotch against the darker hair. On the other 
hand, twenty minute development would have ren¬ 
dered the ribbon as a very weak, or dirty white. 
Also, the flesh tone would have become a rather 
muddy-gray in the finished print. 


The printing on the negative was straight, 
except for about one and one-half seconds of local 
printing in the upper corner of the print. The 
print was exposed for about thirteen seconds at 
F: 11 and developed for one and one-half minutes. 
^Negative development is to me the most im¬ 
portant part of photographic technique. It is simple 
to print good negatives, impossible to make good 
prints from poor ones. You have probably surmised 
that I develop by inspection, and for those who 
are learning, or want to try this method, a brief 
table is indicated, which gives approximate de¬ 
veloping times for various types of sets. The film- 
developer combination indicated in the introduc¬ 
tion has a so-called "normal” developing time of 
ten minutes. The types of sets are classified as: 

Short Scale Set: Minimum exposure, maximum 
development. Approximately one and one-half 
hours. (See pages 35 and 59-) 

Fairly Short Scale Set: Little more than 
minimum exposure, less than maximum develop¬ 
ment. Approximately 30 minutes to one hour for 
development. (See pages 47 and 68.) 

Medium Scale Set: Approximately same ex¬ 
posure and development as above. (See pages 29, 
32 and 41.) 

* Fairly Long Scale Set: Fairly full exposure, 
very careful development for approximately ten to 
15 minutes, as highlights will block easily. (See 
pages 23 and 26.) 

* Extremely Long Scale Set: Extremely full ex¬ 
posure, eight times shadow meter reading, very 
short development to prevent highlights blocking. 
About two minutes in developer, one in water, 
to smooth out. (See page 20) • After the first 
thirty minutes development, the change in the 
negative for the next thirty minutes is small, but 
is important as it affects the brilliance of the high¬ 
lights • I would suggest using 2 oz. of pinacryptol 
green, 1-500 solution, in one gallon of developer; 
a 30 watt light in your safelight • Inspect the 
average negative only after it has been in the 
developer two and one-half or three minutes. 


34 













"K This photograph was made for use as a display 
piece. The agency wanted a photograph which 
would put over the idea of someone having a swell 
time outdoors in the sunshine, and if possible sug¬ 
gest desert surroundings. The photograph was to 
be used as a counter card, and placed principally 
in travel bureaus to advertise a well-known desert 
resort. This naturally called for a picture which was 
simple but had lots of punch, since it would really 
be a small poster. It needed large masses, with a 
minimum of distracting detail, plus fairly strong 
contrasting light and dark areas. The card was to 
be printed in letterpress, using a 133 line screen, 
which would carry the values of a strong print, 
namely, good darks and clean whites. 

The important thing in the picture would be 
the model. Without a good model the photograph, 
no matter what was done, would be weak in atten¬ 
tion value, and too, in order to put over the idea 
the agency had in mind, it would be necessary to 
show by the model’s facial expression that she was 
really enjoying herself. 

M A feminine model was ordered, and it was 
important to find a good-looking, healthy, outdoor 
type of girl. The bicycle was used because bicycling 
seems to be a favorite sport at desert resorts, and 
it not only helps the suggestion of outdoors, fun 
and the desert, but has an interesting shape. The 
model was dressed in active sportswear to further 
suggest warm sunshine, and because that is a 
correct costume for bicycling. The playsuit was 
plain because due to the rather broken pattern of 
the hill in the background, an added pattern in the 


suit would tend to become confusing • A location 
with a sand foreground and the light-toned hill in 
the background was chosen because it suggests the 
particular location of the resort. As it happens, the 
photograph was not made on the desert, but at the 
beach. 

M As in many of the other photographs in this 
collection, a large expanse of sky was used to give 
the feeling of the out-of-doors, and wide open 
spaces, as well as help to keep the illustration 
simple. It would have been possible to place trees 
or cactus in the picture and break up the expanse 
of sky, but this would only have helped scatter the 
interest of the print and thus weaken it as a poster. 
-K The composition here is quite simple. There 
are three main directional lines: the line caused by 
the direction of the bicycle and the foreground line, 
the line caused by the hill in the background, and 
that caused by the figure itself. These all tend to 
oppose one another, which helps give interest to 
the print. The fact that these lines more or less 
intersect at the figure tends to give more emphasis 
to the figure. As in the placement of the horse in 
the picture of the girl and the horse, the bicycle 
here is placed so that the back wheel is lower than 
the front. This gives the line of the bicycle a direc¬ 
tional thrust which helps give depth and life to the 
picture. Had the line of the bicycle paralleled the 
line of the hill, too much emphasis would have been 
placed on the movement of lines to the right side 
of the print. As it is now, the sweeping line of the 
hill is more or less counteracted by the opposing 
lines of the bicycle and the figure. 


36 






★ ★ ★ 


*K The feeling of life and action is kept in the 
picture because there are no straight, horizontal 
lines. By this I mean lines which parallel the top 
and bottom borders of the print. Straight, horizontal 
lines usually suggest a lack of life, or movement. 
The fact that the model is posed slightly off a direct 
vertical line helps the feeling of action, gayety and 
fun. The force caused by the directional lines of 
the bicycle and figure, which are toward the right 
side of the print, is balanced by placing the model 
off-center to the left. 

-K The camera used here was the Graflex, and it 
was equipped with the Cassar lens. The camera lens 
was placed about level with the model’s feet. The 
lighter tones of the hill helped to give a background 
which would stand out the dark areas of the bicycle, 
and the hill was kept purposely on the soft side in 
focusing, in order to lend a feeling of distance to 
the picture. 

-K The lighting on this set was of course sunlight. 
The light flooded onto the model from approxi¬ 
mately the same direction as the direction of the 
bicycle. In other words, from the camera it was 
about a three-quarter cross light, and on about a 
ten degree angle to the ground level, since it was 
late in the afternoon. This cross light gave a strong 
lighting on the model and a minimum amount of 
light on the bicycle. This helps keep the interest 
centered on the figure; the bicycle has so much 
small detail that if it were strongly lighted it would 
tend to pull the viewer’s eye away from the model, 
and would sell the bicycle rather than put over the 
original idea. This light also gives good modeling 
to the figure. The darks along the left side of the 
figure not only help to emphasize its roundness, but 
also help to step out the figure from the plane of 
the hill and sky. The dark of the bicycle played 
against the lighter tones of the hill helps in bring¬ 
ing the figure and bicycle forward. 

-K The exposure here was about 1/50 of a second 
at F:25. This gave a minimum exposure which, 
due to the fact that it was quite late and the sky 


was very blue, rendered the sky dark enough with¬ 
out the necessity of using a filter. This minimum 
exposure also gave good strong darks in the 
shadows, which greatly helped in modeling the 
figure and in giving the needed contrast to the 
picture. If the exposure had been for the shadows 
instead of the highlights on the figure, the shadows 
naturally would be lighter and have more detail, 
as would the bicycle. This would have flattened the 
print and placed too much emphasis on the bicycle, 
which in turn would have weakened the punch of 
the picture. The sky would have been considerably 
lighter in tone, which would have caused it to 
blend in too much with the hill in the background 
and the playsuit worn by the model. The very deli¬ 
cate texture, highlights and middle tones in the 
playsuit would have suffered, inasmuch as the 
shadows caused by increased exposure rise in key 
to the same tone as the middle tones themselves. 
-K The development on this negative was about 
two hours, which is as long as it could possibly be 
run without taking the chance of chemical fog. 
Since the important part of the picture was evenly 
lit and the shadow detail was not wanted, and the 
exposure was for highlights only, it was necessary 
to develop out the negative to the limit. By doing 
this, the delicate middle tones and the highlights 
were brought out to their maximum scale. And 
since the highlights were not over-exposed, they 
could not possibly block. In this way, the highlights 
on the blouse of the playsuit, the nose and chin of 
the model were obtained, and are on the negative, 
not retouched in by hand. 

-Kin printing this negative there were about 
three seconds extra printing on the foreground to 
keep it down in key, which helps give a stronger 
base for the picture, and one second extra printing 
on the top of the sky to give it a darker tone at this 
point, which helps keep it on a plane in back of 
the figure. The rest of the printing was about ten 
seconds at F:ll, and the print was developed for 
two minutes. 


37 








% » 





^ This photograph was made to be used in a 
direct mail piece for an exclusive mens’ shop. The 
copy for this particular illustration stressed the 
perforations in the leather, which was a feature 
exclusive with this store. The photograph was made 
with the purpose mainly of showing the perfora¬ 
tions, and not necessarily selling the particular shoes 
or gloves illustrated • The photograph was to be 
reproduced in letterpress, using 150 line screen 
plates, good enamel paper and, finally, a good print¬ 
ing job. This insured a reproduction which would 
carry a good, long range of tones, as well as hold 
the delicate detail. While the shop had a variety of 
articles made up in this perforated leather, I chose 
the shoe and glove as subjects because they had the 
most interesting shapes. And since it was necessary 
to sell the perforated leather idea above everything 
else, I used only portions of the shoe and glove in 
order to get them up large enough to stress the 
perforations • As can readily be imagined, the 
important thing in this set-up was texture. By play¬ 
ing the texture of the leather in the shoe and glove 
against the different texture of the rough cloth, it 
was possible to give emphasis to the perforations. 
Also, the large size of the shoe and glove help the 
attention value in the print. 

As in this photograph, it is often more satis¬ 
factory to show a small object in greater than life 
size than the size it actually is. The magnification of 
a small object has a revealing quality that often 
stimulates interest. This is particularly true when 
the subject contains fine detail or interesting texture 
which can be shown to advantage • In the majority 


of cases large masses, if properly presented, will 
have more attention value than smaller masses with 
the same presentation. 

■¥■ The composition in this photograph is based 
on the two opposing lines caused by the line of the 
shoe and that of the glove. The dark and light pat¬ 
tern created by the light leather against the darker 
background at the tips of the glove and shoe, plus 
the contrast of the evenly rounded line of shoe and 
the lines of the glove fingers, attracts interest. The 
texture of the print helps to hold the interest. The 
framing of the shoe was governed by the amount 
of shoe needed to show definitely what the article is. 
In the case of the glove, it was easy to frame it in 
most any place to balance the shoe, since the fin¬ 
gers of the glove definitely show what this article 
is • You will notice that the shoe is entering the 
picture not from the exact corner of the print, but 
to the left side above the corner. The glove enters 
the print from the corner. The shoe is balanced by 
the glove, in that the glove acts as more or less a 
prop to hold the shoe from sliding down and to 
the right. The fact that the glove enters the picture 
from the corner gives it the needed rigidity to hold 
the shoe in place. Because of the fact that the shoe 
is cut off by the top of the picture frame, thus 
fastening it to the frame line, it is further pre¬ 
vented from sliding down and out of the print. 
Also, by keeping the lower left hand corner dark 
in tone, it is possible to keep the eye from con¬ 
tinuing on, along the line of the shoe, out of the 
picture. You will also notice that the center dark 
line formed by the fingers of the glove does not 


39 









★ ★ ★ 


coincide with the corner of the print. If the shoe 
had been placed so that it came directly out of the 
upper right hand corner, and the line of the glove 
had met the exact lower right corner of the print, 
the picture would have become too evenly balanced, 
and would have lost interest value. 

M The camera was placed directly over the set-up 
on this shot, so that the lens was pointed down onto 
the shoe and glove • In working in the studio, I 
use, instead of a tripod, a machine which I have 
found very convenient. It is an X-ray stand; and, 
in case you have never seen one, it is a movable 
metal stand, the base of which is a heavy cast-iron 
spider which moves on rubber-tired casters. A large 
steel pipe, about three inches in diameter, and nine 
feet high, is set in this spider. A counter-balanced 
metal cross bar travels up and down on the pipe, 
and the camera is fastened to a plate which travels 
horizontally along the cross bar. It is possible to 
raise or lower the camera to any height within the 
nine foot range of the metal pipe, and also, by 
turning the cross bar, you can tilt the camera to any 
angle desired. Naturally, since the whole machine 
moves on the casters, the stand is very flexible and 
much quicker and easier to operate than any type 
of tripod, since there are no legs to adjust or upset. 
Since X-ray equipment is continually being im¬ 
proved, it is possible to buy the older type stands 
for a very reasonable price. The best place to find 
them is in X-ray supply houses. 

^ In lighting this set, I used a 500 watt spotlight 
about level with the shoe and glove and about 
three feet from the tip of the shoe. (By referring 
to the lighting and set diagram on the preceding 
page, you will get a picture of the complete set-up). 
This light was directed across the shoe and glove 
from the lower left hand side of the print. It gave 
the directional light to the set-up and, because it 
was a direct cross light, helped considerably in 
rendering the texture of not only the shoe and 
glove, but also the texture of the cloth background. 
A cross light always gives the best rendition of 
texture • One 250 watt broadlight was directed 


onto the set from the right side of, and very close 
to the camera. It was used to fill in the shadows. 
This light was about four feet from the set. A 
third light was used—a spotlight directed from in 
back of the shoe onto the set. This light was about 
six feet from the set-up and three feet above it, 
and was used to pick up the shadow side edges of 
the glove and shoe, and keep them from falling 
onto the same plane with the cloth background. 

■¥■ The minimum exposure was used on this pho¬ 
tograph. Minimum exposure here was absolutely 
essential to give the best rendition of the delicate 
detail and texture. The slightest over-exposure 
would have caused loss of contrast in the perfora¬ 
tions, in that the darks in the small holes would 
tend to become lighter. Furthermore, over-exposure 
would have caused a loss of the delicate middle 
tones of the suede leather, and the texture of the 
suede would have suffered. This was extremely 
important in this particular photograph, since the 
whole picture depends almost entirely upon an ex¬ 
cellent rendition of the textures in the material 
photographed. 

The development on this negative ran about 
one and one-half hours. This length of development 
was necessary to give good, strong darks in the 
perforations, and good, strong lights in the rest of 
the glove and shoe. 

-K The printing was straight, except for the lower 
right-hand corner, which was printed down for one 
second. This was necessary to darken the glove 
slightly in order to help keep the observer’s eye 
from running out of the picture along the lines of 
the glove. Corners which run too light, as in this 
case, are best controlled by local printing. And by 
keeping the tips of the glove lighter than the por¬ 
tion of the glove in the corner of the print, it was 
possible to help keep the interest on the shoe and 
the fingertips of the glove, rather than let it wander 
down to the corner of the print. 

M The printing time on this negative was about 
sixteen seconds at F: 11. The print was developed 
one and one-half minutes. 


40 








V>, .■■■■■ .i"JV'S.'" 


.■ f~.&r<- 


., ■ * - wfcMjk 
. 








•: 


■i'c : 










■¥ This photograph was made to be used as a 
magazine cover. The editor wanted a picture which 
would convey a feeling of the outdoors and freedom 
from the routine life and noise of the city. Since 
it was to be a magazine cover, it must have great 
attention value, and simplicity of design. The lay¬ 
out also called for enough space at the top of the 
photograph to mortise in the name of the magazine. 
■¥ In planning the picture, this particular loca¬ 
tion was decided upon as the rock itself was dra¬ 
matic because of its interesting shape. It was 
necessary to use two figures upon it to show the 
rock’s full size, and to give a point of interest, or 
accent to the picture. With one figure the accent 
wasn’t strong enough. Moreover, it would be more 
natural for two girls to climb a rock of such 
apparent height, rather than one alone. And by 
using small figures with a large expanse of sky, 
it was possible to give the feeling of great space 
and height. Actually, the rock was only fifteen or 
twenty feet above the ground. 

-K A magazine cover is really very similar to a 
poster, in the respect that its design should be 
simple and have a great deal of punch. Magazines 
displayed on a news rack are set up in such a way 
that their respective covers are competing with one 
another to attract the prospective buyers’ attention. 

In composing this photograph, I jutted the 
rock into the picture from the lower left hand 
corner at an angle which thrust it skyward to give 
the most strength and life to the picture. Further¬ 
more, by bringing the rock into the picture from 
the corner of the print, it was tied in place with 


the left and bottom borders of the picture. This 
tends to anchor the rock securely. Had it been 
introduced into the print from the middle of the 
left-hand border, it would have been very unstable, 
and I am sure would have made the viewer uncon¬ 
sciously nervous, which in turn would have made 
him dislike the picture. And the fact that the rock 
with its accent, the two girls, is not carried over 
further toward the right side of the picture gives 
more of a feeling of infinite space, as well as added 
interest value. If the right border of the print was 
brought, say two inches over toward the rock, the 
picture would have the feeling of a large object 
boxed in too small a space, and immediately ruin 
the feeling of unending space which it now has. 

-K In posing the models, by having one standing 
and the other sitting it was possible to help con¬ 
tinue the triangular composition of the rock. Also, 
by posing the standing model with her arms bent, 
one up and one down, the repeat of the triangular 
line added interest to the print. 

M The camera angle was very low, in order to 
give a greater illusion of height and also give a 
more interesting shape to the rock • The photo¬ 
graph was of course made in sunlight, and the 
direction of the light was from the top and slightly 
to the side and back of the rock. This lighting was 
chosen for several reasons. The side, back, top light 
tends to accent the figures, and also outlines the 
face of the rock against the sky, while at the same 
time it helps accent the jagged line at the front of 
the rock. Also, the fact that the major portion of 
the rock is in shadow gives the needed dark mass 


42 






★ ★ ★ 


to play against the sky which adds to the print the 
needed contrast to give attention value. For in¬ 
stance, if the lighting had been directed from the 
front, the evenly lit rock would have lost all its 
form, and in addition the tone in the rock would 
have been so close in value to the tone of the sky 
that these two things would have been merged 
onto practically the same plane. The needed amount 
of dark mass, which the front of the rock now gives, 
would have been lost and the print greatly weak¬ 
ened, since it would have had an over-all tone of 
one value, which would have flattened the whole 
picture • The light on the figures, by its intense 
spotting on the girls’ hair and blouses, picks out 
the figures and gives them added value as accents 
to the picture. If this contrast of light and dark were 
lost, the figures would also have become flat and 
uninteresting. With the lighting as it is, the eye is 
immediately attracted to the standing figure by the 
contrast of her hair against the sky, plus the added 
interest of the repeat of the angles, caused by the 
position of her arms. The eye follows this line down 
to the other girl, and then onto the rock itself. 

■¥■ The exposure on this set was based upon the 
fact that it was necessary to record sufficient detail 
in the shadow side of the rock to give it some 
interest value, and yet too much exposure would 
have lightened the shadows too much and lost the 
needed dark in the rock, as well as have rendered 
the sky too light. Had the sky gone lighter, the 
accents of the hair and blouses of the models would 
have lost the contrast needed to pick them up from 
the sky. On the other hand, too little exposure 
would have failed to render the detail in the darker 
side of the rock, which would have tended to give 
the picture a rather forbidding feeling. Also, less 
detail in the shadows of the figures would not have 
given the needed detail of their clothes, and the 
figures would have been too strongly silhouetted 
against the sky. The sky would have gone darker 
and would have given the print a rather gloomy 
atmosphere, which was definitely not wanted. 

* Since this was a long shot, the exposure given 


could be less than had it been closer, even though 
a backlight, if shadow detail is necessary, needs 
considerably more exposure than a sidelit set. The 
exposure here was 1/50 of a second at F: 18. 

M The picture was made with the Graflex and 
the Cassar lens. The focus was set to keep the 
figures and the front of the rock as sharp as possible, 
letting the further side of the rock run out a little, 
since too much detail in that side would have pulled 
too much attention away from the point of interest 
—the figures. No filter was needed since the sky was 
a bright blue, and with the exposure given was 
rendered a medium tone of gray. Notice the smooth 
gradation of tone in the sky. This also helps to 
create the feeling of great space. 

In developing the negative, a good degree of 
contrast was desirable. And, since the amount of 
white in the print was very small, it was necessary 
to make it "sing out.” To do this, the negative was 
developed out to the point where the highest lights 
blocked up. The detail in the small amount of high¬ 
light was after all not necessary to the success of 
the picture, while good strong whites were. Devel¬ 
opment of the negative ran about thirty minutes. 
-+c There was only one place which needed any 
special control in printing the negative. In the very 
bottom of the lower left corner you will notice a 
small section of rock which is darker than the 
larger one. This was burned in with raw light. To 
do this it is necessary, after giving the regular ex¬ 
posure, to pull the negative carrier out of the 
enlarger, and masking off all the print except this 
particular corner with a dark card, to flash the 
enlarger for about one second. Be very sure, how¬ 
ever, that all the rest of the print is covered; other¬ 
wise a fogged print will be the result. Had this part 
of the print been left as it originally was, the picture 
would have been considerably weakened, as this 
part of the rock, being quite light in value and 
surrounded by darks which made it hop out, would 
have unduly attracted the viewer’s attention. 

The print was exposed for twelve seconds at 
F: 11, and was developed for two minutes. 


43 









While this photograph is not what can be 
called a real portrait, it is to me a good study of an 
interesting head. It is interesting to me because the 
profile seems to fit so clearly my visualization of a 
"typical” flyer. A true portrait, however, can never 
be made in profile, due to the fact that the left side 
of anyone’s face is never exactly the same as the 
right side. A convincing test of this statement can 
be made by making two prints of a full face, 
straight-on shot of a head. One is made with the 
emulsion side of the negative toward the paper, the 
other made in reverse. Cut each print down the 
exact center of the nose, and fit halves showing the 
same side together. The result is rather amazing. 
-K The composition of this print was based on 
both a triangle and a repeat of circular lines. The 
triangle is formed roughly in the following man¬ 
ner: the top of the head forms the apex of the 
triangle, while one side is formed by the line of the 
face, which is continued on down to the base of the 
picture by the continuing line of the leather coat. 
The other side is formed by the line of the back 
of the head, which steps down to the collar of the 
coat and then is continued by the line of the chair. 
This gives a good strong base on which to support 
the rather large head • Compositionally, it is very 
risky to use large heads and try to support them in 
the picture with the thin column formed by the 
neck. To me this is very disturbing. I feel that the 
photographer has tried to get over his picture by 
the effect of a big blow-up, and possibly by the 
texture and the interest created by the expression 
on the subject’s face. Such pictures, however, are 


usually weak and disturbing, due to the fact that 
the head is very unsteady in its precarious position. 
Psychologically, such arrangements may be com¬ 
pared to a very large boulder, balanced on a small 
point of rock and looking as though it is apt to 
roll disastrously off at any moment. The average 
person looks at it wonderingly, but would never 
consider building a home very near it, and is rather 
relieved to move on. However, if for some reason 
one were forced to stay in the boulder’s close prox¬ 
imity, he would try to prop it up, or possibly tie 
it off with a framework. This same procedure can 
be followed in framing a large head. Tie it off, 
or brace it up by cropping into it so that the 
edges of the print act as a frame which will hold 
it in place. 

M The repeat of circular lines formed by the 
coat and collar and by the white scarf, definitely 
help the interest value of this print, by leading the 
viewer’s eye to the head itself. The interrupted line 
formed by the darker areas of the coat on the plane 
in back of the head is continued on around the 
head by the coat collar and leather jacket, and 
forms an S curve. The balance of this S curve is 
inferred by the direction of the line as it leaves 
the picture at the lower right hand corner. The 
eye is stopped from leaving the picture along this 
line by the small triangle of dark directly in back 
of the line at the edge of the picture. The circular 
lines formed by the folds in the coat, the collar and 
the edge of the zipper, as well as the white scarf, 
are a series of repeating lines and all lead to the 
head, thereby adding emphasis to it. 


45 






★ ★ ★ 


^ The camera lens was placed about even with 
the subject’s shoulder. This gave the shoulder and 
coat a slight degree of distortion, which widened 
the foreground and gave a better base for the head. 
It also gave the head more emphasis, by giving it 
more height and dignity. 

M The lighting was done with two 500 watt 
spotlights and a small photo flood in a Victor reflec¬ 
tor. One of the spotlights was directly in front of 
the subject’s face at a distance of about three feet, 
and on a fifty degree angle to the floor. This gave 
the main, or directional source of light, which was 
a direct cross light on the head from the camera 
angle. The other spotlight was directly opposite 
this first light and a little in back of the head, about 
four feet away from the subject and on a seventy 
degree angle to the floor. This gave the edge of 
light on the back of the head, and picked up the 
lines on the collar and coat. The photoflood was 
directed onto the gray flat which formed the back¬ 
ground, and was placed on a stand about two feet 
from the floor, directly behind the model. This 
cross lighting gives excellent texture and good 
modeling to the face and head. The shadows formed 
under the nose, eyes and chin help to stand them 
out from the plane of the rest of the face. 

The placement of the light and dark areas is 
quite important in giving depth to this picture. 
The dark coat is played against the lighter tones 
of the scarf, which is backed by the dark areas in 
the head. Separate and distinct planes are formed 
by the darker jacket being placed against the white 
scarf, which is broken by the darker tie, and this 
is backed by the scarf on the far side of the head. 
The scarf is backed by the dark of the coat, which 
in turn is backed by the lighter tone on the back¬ 
ground. If the background had been a dark tone 
similar to the coat, this further plane would have 
been lost and the print would have lost depth and 
interest. The cross light outlining the ear lifts the 
ear out from the plane of the head. The light lining 
the back of the head helps to further the illusion 
of depth in the print. If the background directly 


behind the head had been the same tone as it is 
on the right side of the print, the contrast caused 
by the difference of tone between the dark of the 
head and the light of the background would have 
detracted too much attention from the face of the 
subject, since strong lights and darks too near the 
border of a print are apt to draw the eye more 
strongly than when they are surrounded by a larger 
area of darker tone. The light reflected by the scarf 
on to the under side of the chin and the neck 
also helps in modeling the front side of the face. 
'K The exposure on this set was made with the 
View camera and the Heliar lens. In order to get 
the maximum amount of texture and keep the darks 
in the print strong, a minimum exposure was neces¬ 
sary. The exposure was about 1/5 of a second at 
F:18 ® The textures are important in adding in¬ 
terest to the print. By contrasting the texture of 
the leather coat against the texture of the white 
scarf, which is in turn played against the texture 
of the subject’s skin, it is possible to add much 
interest to the print. By keeping the front part of 
the coat in the foreground, and the scarf and edge 
of coat behind the subject’s head slightly out of 
focus, the print gains depth. Keeping this part 
slightly out of focus helps still further, in that if 
the texture in the bottom part of the coat were too 
apparent, it would tend to compete too much with 
the face of the subject for the viewer’s attention. 
M The negative on this shot was developed for 
about one hour and forty-five minutes. Since the 
exposure was for the highlights, the white scarf 
did not block, and the shadow areas were kept dark 
and strong. Too much exposure would have weak¬ 
ened the print by filling in too much detail in the 
shadows. Also, the fine texture of the scarf would 
have suffered. 

M The print was straight, except for one second 
local printing in the lower right hand corner. This 
was done to keep the viewer’s eye from traveling 
out of the print along the lines of the coat. The 
printing time was about ten seconds, at Fill. The 
print was developed for two minutes. 


46 






















-K This illustration was made to be used in na¬ 
tional magazines for the purpose of advertising 
Southern California. It was ordered by an adver¬ 
tising agency for an account which has several 
requisites for its advertising illustrations. There 
must be palm trees, since by a constant use of 
palm trees in their advertising, this account has 
made them more or less a trademark, and they wish 
to definitely associate Southern California with 
palm trees. The sets must be attractive, and put 
across the idea of a relaxing, playful, but smart 
California, with plenty of sunshine. In most cases 
the illustrations for this account are planned to 
feature the background, or set. While people are 
necessary, the sets are the most important thing in 
the pictures. Naturally enough, the idea of the 
illustrations is to make those who see them want 
to come to California. And in order to do this, 
every effort is made to make the illustrations as 
realistic, and as full of life, warmth and sunlight as 
possible. 

■¥- The idea of this photograph was to picture a 
group of people playing and relaxing in smart 
surroundings. In making an illustration of this 
kind, finding the proper location is most impor¬ 
tant. The particular set in this photograph is located 
in Palm Springs. It is ideal for the purpose, because 
of the good, strong sunlight; it has a well-designed 
pool, and is modern and smart-looking. It also 
contains the necessary palm trees. I was fortunate 
in this particular location to find palm trees already 
growing in such a way that they could be used to 
good advantage. By using the trees as a frame 


through which to compose the picture, considerable 
attention value was gained, and a definite impres¬ 
sion that there were palms actually growing on 
the set. By using the palms in this manner, it was 
possible to not only add an additional plane to the 
picture, but also to contrast the pattern and texture 
of the tree trunks with the pattern and texture of 
the water and tile in the background. This contrast 
adds greatly to the interest of the photograph • 
While the pool itself is really the most important 
thing in the picture, the placement of the models 
is important in adding life and interest to the illus¬ 
tration. Due to his particular placement, the figure 
under water is the point of interest in the composi¬ 
tion. Also, the very fact that he is swimming under 
water, gives this spot added interest. The two 
figures in the foreground are balanced by the three 
in the background. The two figures in the left 
background are needed to balance the size and 
directional line caused by the position of the figure 
in the right background. By having the blonde 
model in the foreground hold up her foot, interest 
was added, by getting a repeat line of the palm on 
the left side of the picture. Of course, all the figures 
are posed to look as natural as possible. The figure 
swimming under water is headed toward the two 
girls in the foreground because it is action which 
might readily take place, and helps avoid a possible 
staged appearance of the photograph • By con¬ 
trasting the circular line formed by the pool with 
the upright, vertical lines formed by the palm 
trees, further attention value is given the print. 
The towels on the lawn at the top of the picture 


48 








★ ★ ★ 


serve to break up the even expanse of lawn and, 
with the robe on the springboard, help make the 
picture more realistic. The robe also helps to break 
up the line formed by the springboard, which tends 
to bisect the palm tree too evenly. If the camera 
had been placed so that the palm trees cut through 
the picture more vertically, some of the interest 
value now present would have been lost, since due 
to the great amount of pattern already in the pic¬ 
ture, added evenness of the lines caused by the 
palms would have given the print a studied, or too 
static appearance • The camera was about twenty 
feet above the level of the pool. This was necessary 
to get the best angle on the pool. 

The light on the set was very strong sunlight, 
and was coming onto the set from above and a 
little to the left of the camera. (Refer to the light¬ 
ing and set diagram on the preceding page). This 
gave an even, flat light, which was most desirable, 
since due to the great amount of pattern and the 
spotting of the models, additional spotting by 
shadows would have made the picture too busy. 
This light, from this particular angle, made it 
possible to get the necessary detail in the dark palm 
trees, which was needed to show their pattern to 
advantage. It also flooded the pool with light, which 
rendered the water transparent and light in tone. 
A cross light on this set would have complicated 
the pattern of the palms, as well as caused the 
water to appear darker. It would have caused 
shadows to be cast by the models, which would have 
interfered with the pattern of the water, as well 
as the lines of the pool. The result would have been 
too hard to look at. Thus, the interest value of the 
print would have suffered. 

*KThe exposure for this photograph was 1/100 
of a second at F:32. The Graflex, equipped with 
the Cassar lens was used. The amount of light 
reflected from the set was amazing, and since the 
detail in the small amount of shadows wasn’t impor¬ 
tant, plus the fact that the light was so very strong 
and flooded the set so evenly, a minimum exposure 
was used. This kept the brilliance of the water, and 


rendered the palm trees as a suitably dark tone. The 
slightest over-exposure on this set would have 
killed the delicate middle tones in the water, ren¬ 
dered the palms in a lighter tone, blocked up the 
cement rim of the pool, and caused the grass lawn 
at the top of the picture to come up in value. Also, 
the darks carried in the brunette model’s hair, as 
well as the figure under water would have suffered 
by becoming a lighter value • The sunlight on the 
desert, particularly on a clear day, is amazing in its 
actinic value. I imagine this is due to the air being 
devoid of moisture, as well as to the light coloring 
of the surrounding country. Since practically all of 
the soil, rocks and mountains are light in color, 
they reflect a great deal of sunlight. 

-K In shooting this photograph I used a shutter 
speed of 1/100 of a second, as this speed was 
sufficient to stop the action of the model under 
water. It was necessary to stop down as far as 
possible to carry the focus from the palms to the 
farther side of the pool, so as to take full advantage 
of the pattern and texture of the set. Before photo¬ 
graphing the set, I placed all of the models in 
position except the underwater figure. Then, in 
order to get him in exactly the right spot, I had 
him run and dive into the pool, and snapped the 
shutter when he reached position. The other models 
of course are posed to balance the composition, 
but also to appear as natural as possible. 

The development of this negative ran about 
forty-five minutes. Since the exposure was for the 
highlights, it was impossible to block them in 
development. A development of forty-five minutes 
brought up the lights to a good strong tone, but 
still allowed them to carry all the needed de¬ 
tail • The print was straight, except for two seconds 
of local printing on the rock in the lower right 
corner of the picture. This rock was originally a 
lighter tone, but its position in the corner of the 
picture made it necessary to print it darker, other¬ 
wise it would attract the viewer’s eye away from 
the rest of the picture. The print exposure was 
twelve seconds at F: 11. 


49 





















This photograph was made to fill an order for 
a Fall magazine cover. The editor wanted a picture 
of a girl out-of-doors, carrying autumn leaves and 
accompanied by a dog. Since the photograph was 
to be used as a cover, it would be printed on a 
good enamel stock, using a comparatively good 
halftone plate, so that it would take advantage of 
strong darks and good clean whites, as well as a 
good scale of middle tones. 

* In planning the photograph, the model was 
most important. The set-up required a healthy- 
looking, attractive girl; one who would look as 
though she enjoyed and belonged out-of-doors. 
And naturally a thoroughbred dog was essential. 
A setter was used because it has a general appeal 
and is a dog usually associated with wide open 
fields and the countryside. The Irish setter was used 
rather than an English setter because the dog, being 
near the base of the composition, had to be kept 
low in key in order not to detract too much from 
the girl and her expression. Also, the print needed 
a dark to help stand out the middle and light tones 
of the girl’s figure and to give contrast with the 
sky. Had an English setter been used, the print 
would have suffered in punch, because the light- 
colored dog would have blended too much into the 
sky, particularly in the shadow areas. The large 
amount of sky was used to give the feeling of lots 
of space and to keep the photograph as simple and 
"posterish” as possible. The sky was kept down in 
tone to help stand out the figures and to give con¬ 
trast to the logotype of the magazine which would 
be stripped in on the plate in the upper left. 


-K The figures were placed more off-center to the 
right in the original print for the magazine than 
in this reproduction, to balance the name of the 
magazine. The composition needed some horizon¬ 
tals; the logotype helped this, also the leaves in the 
girl’s arms, which were placed to give a horizontal 
line. The angle of her scarf also helps to counteract 
the strong vertical lines of the figures. 

-K The model was posed to simulate action. The 
ordinary procedure in a shot of this kind would be 
to photograph the figure in action. However, in 
this case the dog complicated matters. Trying to 
get both the model and the dog to walk and hold 
their bodies and heads in exactly the right position 
was a tough assignment, since it was next to impos¬ 
sible to keep the dog in the right position with 
respect to the model. Also, the dog’s head was 
never up and alert when he was walking. There¬ 
fore, in shooting this set-up it was necessary to put 
the model in a pose of simulated action. The best 
way to handle this, I have found, is to have the 
model walk into the position desired from about 
six feet back, and in order to keep the figure from 
becoming too set after she reaches her position, to 
have her rock back and forth, first on the toes, then 
the heels. The feet should remain in the natural 
position in which she arrives after walking into 
position. In this case, the dog was placed where he 
was wanted by the trainer and held there by his 
commands. 

In shooting figures in motion, particularly in 
using a Graflex, it is important to mark off on the 
ground a line which is not too noticeable in the 


51 








★ ★ ★ 


camera, and focus on this particular spot. Then 
have your models walk or run past that line. 
Impress upon them, however, that you will snap 
the shutter when they reach it. It is then possible 
for them to have the desired facial expression at 
the time you make the exposure • When shooting 
action photographs with a Graflex, particularly if 
you are following the action on the ground glass, 
you must trip the shutter before the models arrive 
at the designated spot, since due to the delayed 
action of this camera, a result of the fact that the 
mirror must swing out of the way before the shut¬ 
ter can work, there is a considerable lag between 
the moment you release the shutter and the time 
the exposure is made. This is one of the reasons 
that the majority of press photographers use Speed 
Graphic cameras, since in the Graphic there is no 
mirror to lag, and also, due to the Graphic’s ability 
to take a short focal length lens, it is possible to 
carry a greater depth of focus than on the longer 
focal length lens required by the Graflex. Good 
press photographers, through experience, can judge 
distance in feet to an amazing degree of accuracy, 
so that a ground glass is really not necessary to 
focus their camera. Usually they can set their cam¬ 
era and shoot more quickly than a man with a 
Graflex can focus on an object. And with the advent 
of the new synchronized focusing attachment, their 
results as to sharpness are practically certain. 

M In regard to shutter speeds on action shots; 
with figures walking toward the camera 1 /200 of 
a second will stop the action. If the figures are 
walking across the line of the camera, or running 
in toward it, I would suggest using 1/350 of a 
second exposure, and on anything faster, 1/500 if 
you want to be sure of stopping all the action. This 
will vary with the size of the image desired in the 
print. The larger the image, as a result of either 
close camera position, or long focal length lens, the 
faster the required shutter speed. But the majority 
of subjects can be stopped at 1/500 of a second. 
There are a few things, like the feet of fast running 
horses and the swing of a golf club as it hits the 


ball, which even 1/1000 of a second will not stop. 
It is possible, with a hand camera, to follow objects 
or figures with the camera as they move past. By 
swinging the camera so that the moving object re¬ 
mains continuously on the groundglass much of its 
motion is nullified, and slower shutter speeds can 
be used. The background however will be blurred 
because of the camera movement. 

* Getting back to the photograph of the girl and 
the dog, the camera lens was about level with the 
model’s feet. This gave height to the figures and 
eliminated unwanted detail in the background. The 
camera was slightly front focused to keep the fig¬ 
ures a little soft and further the illusion of move¬ 
ment and the feeling of candidness. 

M The lighting on this set was sunlight, and was 
almost direct cross light, coming from the left side 
of the picture, and at about a ten degree angle 
to the ground. One reflector was used to fill in the 
shadow side of the girl’s face. The exposure was 
made in late afternoon. This light gave excellent 
modeling to the subject, and gave an interesting 
light and dark pattern on the figures. The shadows 
on their legs, and on the leaves all help to give 
depth to the picture, which would have been lost 
under a front lighting. This modeling helps to 
stand out the figures from the background. 

M The Graflex camera and Cassar lens were used 
on this shot, and the exposure was the minimum: 
1/50 of a second at F:22. This gave good strong 
darks in the shadow areas of the print, and kept 
the sky down in tone so that it gave good contrast 
with the shadows, the highlights, and with the 
logotype, or name of the magazine. The develop¬ 
ment of the negative was about one and one-half 
hours, in order that the whites could come up as 
strong as possible. 

The printing was straight, except for one sec¬ 
ond’s shading on the immediate foreground, to keep 
this area down in tone and give a good base for the 
figures. The print was exposed at Fill for eight 
seconds and developed for two minutes. 


52 






4 >* 














M This photograph was made for a large depart¬ 
ment store whose advertising manager wanted a 
photograph of a girl, with lace appearing in the 
picture in some way. The photograph was to be 
simply an illustration which would attract the 
reader’s attention to the copy, and not necessarily 
show any practical use of the lace. 

M In visualizing the illustration, it seemed that 
a fairly large head in combination with a pattern 
of lace would fill the order. The head would have 
attention value because of the fact that it was large, 
plus the added advantage that by using a good- 
looking model this attention value would be in¬ 
creased. By using a blonde against a strong dark 
background, the necessary contrast needed to give 
the print punch could be obtained. By using dark 
lace silhouetted against the lighter areas of the 
model’s face and hair, it was possible to give pat¬ 
tern to the print, display the lace to advantage, and 
give an added plane to the photograph. 

M In setting up for the picture, the lace was 
stretched over a wooden frame and the model was 
posed in the approximate position necessary to 
give a good angle on the head. The frame holding 
the lace was moved into place between the camera 
and the model and then tied off • The photograph 
was composed so that the model’s right eye would 
be the accent, or point of interest. The fact that the 
lace covers the left eye helps to give emphasis to 
the right eye. The head was angled so that it broke 
on a diagonal line with the greater amount of 
weight on the left side of the print. The lace was 
placed so that it covered a little less than half the 


model’s head, but still covered more than half the 
print itself. By placing the head off-center and 
having the lace cut across the picture in such a way 
that it did not cut either the head or picture evenly, 
it was possible to keep the print from becoming 
too exact and mechanical. Had the head been cen¬ 
tered and the lace arranged to exactly bisect the 
head and the frame of the picture, the final result 
would have looked too studied and formal, and 
would have had more or less the effect of freezing 
everything into a monotonous geometric problem. 
The weight caused by the head being placed off- 
center toward the left side of the print is balanced 
by the direction of the model’s eyes, the diagonal 
line caused by the lace and the weight caused by 
the shadow area in the lower right-hand corner of 
the print. By allowing the lace to fade into the dark 
background in the upper right-hand corner of the 
print, it was possible to keep more interest on the 
model’s face, and also keep the composition from 
having a chopped-up appearance. 

-K The camera used was the View camera, with 
the Heliar lens. The camera was tipped slightly to 
give the angle to the head. The lens was just a 
little below the level of the model’s eyes. This gave 
a good angle on the head, in that it helped to push 
it up from the shoulders. The lace was about three 
inches in front of the face. 

The lighting on this set was important in that 
it had to be fairly evenly distributed over the face 
so the face would act as a background light enough 
in tone against which to silhouette the lace. But it 
was important to keep the stronger light from 


54 







★ ★ ★ 


touching the lace itself. A 1000 watt spotlight was 
used to give the main source, or directional light. 
It was placed about four feet above the model’s 
head and on about a sixty degree angle to the floor, 
and approximately a thirty-five degree angle to the 
camera line. This light cast the nose shadow. A 
1000 watt broadlight was placed to the left side of 
the camera and about three feet above it, to fill in 
the shadow areas. A 250 watt spotlight was directed 
from the floor toward the model’s right shoulder 
and up under the right side of the chin and throat. 
This light outlines the tip of her right shoulder and 
picks up lights on the shoulder and neck. This small 
area of light on the right shoulder is very impor¬ 
tant, both in carrying the line of the shoulder and 
in standing out the lace in the lower left corner of 
the print. The spotlight from the floor also picks 
up a small line of light along the bottom of the 
chin, which is needed to help model the chin, since 
without it this feature would step back against the 
darker area of the throat. A 250 watt broadlight 
was used directly in back of the model and was 
directed onto the gray flat which formed the back¬ 
ground. This gave the lighter toned areas in the 
background which are directly behind the model 
and run close to her head and shoulders. Without 
them the lace would have faded into the back¬ 
ground except where it is seen against the face. 

The dark and light pattern in this print is very 
obvious. The dark lace is placed against the lighter 
tones of the model’s head and shoulders, which in 
turn are placed against a darker background. 

-k The exposure for this shot was the minimum. 
This was necessary to carry a strong black in the 
lace. Also, since the model’s face was so evenly 
lighted, it was important to keep the exposure 
down, because over-exposure would have caused 
the subject’s chin to block up and become too 
white, which of course would be intensified by the 
contrasting black lace. In order to carry the focus 
of the lace and the head, the camera was focused 
on the model’s lips, and then stopped to F:32. This 
stop required an exposure of about Vi second. 


-k The development of the negative ran about 
one hour and twenty minutes, which gave good, 
strong darks and clean light tones. The strongest 
lights had to be brought up to their maximum to 
give the best emphasis on the lace in the fore¬ 
ground • There was no control work in the print¬ 
ing of the negative. The print ran about thirteen 
seconds at F: 11 and was developed for two minutes, 
k Methods of carrying focus differ with different 
types of lenses. With the Heliar, for example, the 
point of focus will remain the same, whether the 
lens is wide open or stopped down. But with the 
Cassar, the focus moves forward when the lens is 
stopped down. This necessitates either focusing 
stopped down, or calculating the amount which the 
focus will vary. In using the Cassar, I always focus 
it stopped to the stop I intend to shoot with. You 
will find that this quality varies with different 
lenses. And it is wise to test yours and find out all 
you can about them. The usual action of most of 
them is that in stopping down the focus is carried 
two-thirds back and one-third forward, which is 
true in the case of the Heliar. 
k The choice of models in illustrative photog¬ 
raphy is very important, since it is necessary to sell 
ideas, not to make good portraits of the models. 
In large cities, models are usually contacted through 
model bureaus, or mannequin associations. In small¬ 
er communities, schools and clubs are logical places 
to look. 

k The selection of a model depends on the type 
required. Fashion models are most difficult to find 
as there are more qualifications than just being tall, 
having a pretty face and a good figure. They should 
have grace and poise; a thin face with even features; 
hair which can be dressed easily in many ways; be 
able to wear stock and sample sizes without altera¬ 
tion; take poses easily and naturally; and follow 
direction quickly. 

k In working with models, always be the master 
of any situation. Gain their respect and cooperation, 
and make them feel important, for they are very 
important to the success of your photographs. 


55 






















The purpose of the series of photographs of 
which this is one was to convincingly put over the 
fact that Miss Loretta Young was not ill, as was 
rumored sometime ago, but in good health and 
very active. Since they were straight publicity pic¬ 
tures, the photographs would be sent to magazines 
in the hope that the editors, or art directors would 
like them and use the photographs in their layouts. 
In the majority of cases, all publicity pictures are 
handled in this fashion. The studios, or publicity 
agents try to guess what the publishers of maga¬ 
zines or newspapers will like and use in the way 
of pictures, then make photographs to try to please 
them o In this particular case, while we hoped the 
photographs could be placed with magazines, we 
still left an "out,” so far as reproduction qualities 
were concerned, so that they could be used in news¬ 
papers as well. In other words, the quality of this 
particular print, due to its strong light areas and 
even middle tones, as well as a good amount of 
strong dark areas, would reproduce in newsprint. 
While it isn’t what could be called ideal newspaper 
copy, it could be reproduced, and it would, on the 
other hand, also reproduce fairly well in magazines 
using a much finer screen and better stock. Natu¬ 
rally, in newsprint some of the darks would be lost, 
while in a 133 line screen nothing of the original 
would be lost. But the finer screen could really 
handle a print with finer middle tone gradations 
than there are in this particular print. However, in 
a compromise of this sort, something must suffer. 
M In this photograph, Miss Young was posed 
with a bow and arrow because I wanted to intro¬ 


duce the suggestion of active sports. The use of a 
simple composition and strong lights and darks, in 
combination with strong vertical lines, I felt helped 
to further the feeling of strength and vitality. Also, 
the fact that Miss Young was not by nature an 
extremely athletic person, made it important that 
the photograph not carry the idea of active sports 
too far, since due to her previous publicity pictures 
and her roles in motion pictures, people were not 
apt to associate her with the role of a Babe Deid- 
rickson. For these reasons, shooting her in too active 
a pose might possibly make both her and the 
photograph appear ridiculous. 

More than anything else, I suppose you could 
say the composition is based on a triangle, using 
the line formed by the bow on one side and the 
line formed by the costume on the other side. The 
vertical lines of the figure are broken by the line 
of the bow and by the irregular lines formed by 
the sash and the arms. You will notice that these 
lines all tend to lead the eye to the head. The arrow 
is placed to continue and repeat the line of the 
sash. This very straight, vertical line is contrasted 
with the curving line of the bow, and with the 
diagonal lines formed by the arms. 

-+c The attention value of the print is dependant 
upon the contrast caused by the large area of dark 
formed by Miss Young’s costume, played against 
the even tone of the gray sky and plaster wall. The 
wall itself is important as a base for the figure, and 
also as an added plane for giving depth to the 
picture. It also adds interest, in that it affords an 
intermediary texture between that of the costume 


57 










★ ★ ★ 


and that of the sky. Then too, the horizontal line 
formed by the wall is needed to offset the series of 
vertical lines formed by the figure, the bow, the 
sash and the arrow. 

M As shown in the set diagram on the preceding 
page, the camera lens on this particular shot was 
about three feet above the ground. This low angle 
gave added size and strength to the picture, by 
helping to make Miss Young look larger and taller. 
You will notice that the focus in this particular 
case is slightly back. This keeps the sash in the fore¬ 
ground from becoming too sharp, since its pattern 
plus a strong texture would tend to draw the 
viewer’s interest away from Miss Young’s face. And 
since we were selling Miss Young, and not the cos¬ 
tume, it was important to keep as much interest as 
possible on her. 

The lighting in this case was sunlight. The sun 
was at about a forty-five degree angle to the ground, 
and was directed from the right side and'a little to 
the front, so that it gave almost a cross light on the 
set. (Note lighting direction in set diagram on the 
preceding page). This helped to give form to the 
figure and head, as well as interest to the dark 
expanse of costume. By the use of the cross light, 
the arms, scarf and bow were brought out from the 
plane of the figure, and the figure was brought out 
from the plane of the wall and sky. 

M The light and dark pattern created by this 
lighting plays the light tones of the scarf and arms 
against the darker tones of the costume, which are 
in turn played against the lighter tones of the wall 
and sky. The darker tones in the left side of the 
wall, by being placed against the lighter tones of 
the sky in back of it, help to stand out the wall 
from the sky, while the lighter tone of the right 
side of the wall is given emphasis by the darker 
tone of the sky behind it. This has the same effect 
as the darker tones on the left side of the wall in 
giving an added plane to the picture. 

M Considerable care was taken to arrange the 
pose so that the main directional lines would lead 
the eye to the face. The line of the sash and the 


curve of the costume on the right converge at the 
elbow. From this point the arms lead up to the 
head. The curve of the bow also carries the eye up 
to the head. The curving line of the costume on the 
right is very helpful in building up the feeling of 
movement. It was deliberately obtained by having 
Miss Young keep her weight on her left foot so 
that the hip would swing outward. 

-K The exposure on this set was made with the 
Graflex camera, using the Cassar lens. The shutter 
speed was 1/50 of a second at stop F: 18. This was 
a highlight exposure. Too much detail in the dark 
areas of the costume would have weakened the 
interest in the print by weakening the darks, and 
in turn would have weakened the light and dark 
pattern of the entire picture. This would have de¬ 
creased the attention value of the print. Also, more 
exposure would have lightened the value of the 
sky, which would have brought it too near in value 
to the lighter areas of the subject’s face and arms, 
which would have caused the face particularly to 
blend into the sky. This would have caused the face 
to fall back onto the same plane as the sky, and 
weakened the modeling in the picture. A reflector 
was used on the left side to fill in the left side of the 
wall and face, and the under side of the arms. 

-K The development on this negative ran about 
one and one-half hours. This development brought 
out the tones in the folds of the dark costume, 
which gave more interest to the picture; brought 
the highlights up to a good strong light, and still 
kept the stronger darks good and black. 

-K The printing was straight except for the por¬ 
tion of sky directly above the left side of the wall 
and next to the figure. This was held back in print¬ 
ing for about two seconds, by using a round piece 
of black paper, about the size of a quarter, on a 
piece of piano wire. By moving this continually 
during the two seconds, it was possible to lighten 
that area without causing streaks or spots. The total 
exposure was fourteen seconds at F:ll, and the 
print was developed for one and one-half minutes. 


58 















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The order for this photograph called for an 
illustration to be used in national magazines to 
advertise Southern California. The art director 
wanted a photograph which would definitely sell 
ocean and bathing. In planning the illustration, I 
felt that by showing a large expanse of ocean and 
accenting it with small figures, it would be possible 
to put over the idea of bathing, as well as give a 
feeling of large, sunny, open spaces in which the 
prospective traveler could play and relax without 
the worry of crowds. By using the two small figures 
against a large expanse of water, it was possible to 
give the impression of endless water and beach. 
And by photographing the figures running, life 
and action were given to the print, which in turn 
added interest to the photograph. By using a tall 
figure and a shorter figure, it was possible to get a 
variation in sizes which also added interest. And by 
using a blonde and a brunette, further contrast was 
gained in tone values, which also helped the interest. 
M In composing this picture, the most important 
thing to consider was the accenting of the large 
expanse of gray with the right size spot, in, of 
course, the right place. Two figures were used be¬ 
cause one would have been too small an accent for 
the amount of even-toned background. Also, from 
a sales angle, one figure would have given a lonely, 
or rather desolate feeling to the print. The strip 
of white surf line is necessary to add contrast and 
variation to the set. The figures were placed in this 
strip to give contrast to the darker parts of their 
bodies, and help stand them out from the back¬ 
ground. By placing the figures to the left of the 


center line of the print it was possible to further 
the impression that they could run on and on over 
an endless stretch of clean beach. The fact that they 
are spotted on the left side also balances the force 
of the directional line caused by their movement 
from left to right across the print. If, for instance, 
they had been placed to the right of the center of 
the print, the right border immediately would have 
become a barrier to keep them from running on 
out of the print. Moreover, the weight caused by 
the figures themselves, plus their directional force, 
would have caused the print to become heavy on 
the right side, and it would have been necessary 
to balance them with some spot or tone on the 
left. However, had they been placed on the right 
side, the feeling of their action would have been 
increased. But since it was more important to sell 
endless beach than action, I felt the present compo¬ 
sition would work to better advantage. If the figures 
had been placed in the direct center, the perfect 
balance would have killed all feeling of action. 
Their placement at the bottom of the print serves 
to give added emphasis to the expanse of water. 
-K The textures in this set are very important. A 
great deal of the interest value in the print is 
obtained by the change from the smooth, even 
texture of the sand to the broken pattern and tex¬ 
ture of the surf line, and from this to the rather 
even texture and pattern of the water • The atten¬ 
tion value of the print is dependent upon contrast 
again here. But instead of the usual contrast of tone 
—dark against light—here it is the contrast of size 
and area. The large expanse of even pattern is 


60 







★ ★ ★ 


broken by the two small figures of the models. This 
contrast startles the reader into looking at the print, 
since by the very fact that the even pattern of water 
is so large and the figures so small, they become 
very important, and demand attention. 

-K From the set diagram on the preceding page, 
you will note that the camera angle here was quite 
high, the camera being about forty feet above the 
level of the water. This was necessary to get an 
even expanse of water, and it also helped to dwarf 
the figures of the models against the background. 

The lighting was of course sunlight. The shot 
was made about two in the afternoon in the month 
of November. The direction of the light, as you 
can see from the photograph, as well as the lighting 
diagram, is almost directly top, back light. A small 
amount of light breaks across the front of the fig¬ 
ures, but the greater part of the models’ bodies is 
in shadow. This lighting was necessary to stand 
out the figures from the background. Since they 
were so small and so far from the camera, they 
tend to merge into the background. A front light 
on this set would have certainly pushed them onto 
the same plane as the ocean. Also, the delicate 
shadows on the water, which give texture and 
pattern to the ocean would have been lost, since a 
front light would have cast the shadows of the small 
waves behind them and away from the camera. The 
back lighting gave strong darks to the figures, which 
helps accent them and tends to stand them out from 
the water. With a front light, the tone on the girls’ 
legs would have merged with the tone of the surf 
line, or foam. 

■K The exposure for this set was a minimum one. 
Due to the fact that the beach and water are such 
good natural reflectors, the few shadows in the set 
were filled to the point where they would register 
enough detail even in this direct back light. The 
small amount of shadow detail on the figures was 
of no possible use—in fact it would have been a 
detriment in this case, since the figures are so small 
that any great amount of detail in their shadow 
sides would have lightened the dark areas caused by 


the present shadows, and weakened the print. More¬ 
over, since the print is made up principally of a 
large, flat surface of water, over-exposure on this 
would have filled in the delicate shadows, ruining 
the pattern in the water. Furthermore, the sharp 
accent of the brunette model’s hair would have 
suffered. And since that is really the only good 
dark in the print, the result would have been dis¬ 
astrous, inasmuch as without that dark accent, the 
print would become flat and weak. 

-K In exposing for this set, it was necessary to use 
a shutter speed which would stop the action, but 
not completely freeze the figures. If the figures were 
stopped in their action so that they would become 
too sharp and distinct, some of the feeling of move¬ 
ment would be lost. They would look like cut-out 
figures which had been pasted onto the print. Due 
to the fact that the figures were very small, even 
though they were running directly across the pic¬ 
ture, I used a shutter speed of 1/150 of a second. 
This stopped the action, but did not freeze them. 
Also, the fairly soft outline of the figures, con¬ 
trasted with the sharper pattern of the water, helps 
further in standing them out from the background. 
The stop used at this shutter speed was F:22. I 
used the Graflex camera and the Telephoto lens. 

-K The development on this negative was the 
maximum, since the set was quite flat and a good 
range of contrast was needed to give it the neces¬ 
sary punch to attract attention. Naturally, the high¬ 
lights could not block, because of the minimum 
exposure, so the development ran for about one 
and one-half hours. 

-fc The printing was straight, except for about 
one-half second of local printing at the top of the 
print, to slightly darken the water near this border. 
This gives a grading effect to the tone of the water, 
which in turn helps push the foreground out to the 
viewer, just as with a large expanse of sky. The 
printing time was ten seconds at Fill, and the 
print was developed for two minutes to give the 
darks all the strength possible. 


61 

























This photograph was ordered to be used in a 
direct-mail piece. The campaign to be run was for 
an exclusive resort hotel, and the agency wanted a 
dignified photograph with very strong attention 
value, and a logical relation to the hotel • The 
picture was made to appeal to both former and 
prospective guests, and these people constituted a 
rather specialized market. For this reason, the pho¬ 
tograph had to be stylized, and more or less sophis¬ 
ticated. Since the direct-mail piece was to be printed 
on a good grade of enamel paper, it would be pos¬ 
sible to use about a 133 line plate for the cut. This 
meant that the reproduction could carry a long 
scale and good detail. I could depend upon strong 
blacks, good middle tones and clean whites. There¬ 
fore, I could use a strong, dramatic lighting, taking 
advantage of all the strong blacks and whites, and 
still hold delicate middle tones. 

In making this picture, there were definite 
requirements to meet. Since it was to be used to 
attract the reader’s interest to the copy, the first 
requirement was attention value. The picture must 
be dignified, and it must have a logical relation to 
the hotel and the copy. I chose the giant Eucalyptus 
tree as the subject because it was on the hotel 
grounds, and considered more or less a landmark. 
By using the tree in the photograph, people who 
had been at the hotel would associate the two upon 
seeing the picture • While the tree alone would 
have made an interesting photograph, the figure 
was added to give scale to the tree, and to add life 
and human interest to the picture. The girl was 
dressed in a play suit because it was necessary to 


tie-in the picture with the copy idea: that here was 
a delightful place in which to play and relax, amid 
dignified and luxurious surroundings. 

•¥ In composing the picture, full advantage was 
taken of the beautiful and imposing tree. It could 
practically carry the composition alone, so the set 
was composed as simply as possible. I used a low 
camera angle to make the tree seem very large, and 
even more important, to eliminate distracting ele¬ 
ments in the background. By cropping the fore¬ 
ground close to the tree at the bottom, and cutting 
off the tree at the top, its size was given added 
emphasis. By placing the figure against and parallel 
with the tree, I got a repeat line of the tree in the 
figure of the girl, and at the same time gave still 
more emphasis to the size of the tree by the contrast 
of the small figure. 

■¥■ In lighting the set, I used a low, side light, to 
give added roundness to the tree, and also to keep 
the figure from merging into the same plane as 
the tree trunk. This gave more depth and thus 
added interest to the photograph. The side light 
on the rock fence in the background formed 
an interesting pattern, and added the necessary 
strength to the base of the composition. And since 
the fence forms another plane, it gives still greater 
depth to the picture • Had a front light been used 
on this set, the girl’s figure would have been pushed 
back into the tree, and both the tree and the girl 
would have been pushed onto the same plane as 
the fence, plus the fact that the feeling of round¬ 
ness and depth in all three would have been lost. 

The Graflex, equipped with the Cassar lens was 


63 







★ ★ ★ 


used for this shot. I used a 23a red filter on the 
camera, since by darkening the sky, it was possible 
to keep the strong accent on the girl and tree. Had 
the sky gone a light gray, the leaves and branches 
at the top of the print would have formed a pat¬ 
tern against the sky, and greatly weakened the com¬ 
position, since this pattern would have attracted 
attention away from the tree trunk and the girl, 
thus scattering the interest. This would have greatly 
diminished the attention value of the print. 

-K This photograph illustrates quite well the 
importance of the placement of lights and darks. 
The sky grades from a dark at the top to a lighter 
gray at the bottom. This is due to the fact that the 
red filter holds back the light reflected from blue 
objects, as in this instance, the sky. The stronger 
the blue, the more the filter holds it back from 
exposing on the negative. As there is usually a 
ground haze, and this case was no exception, the 
closer to earth, the lighter the sky, as a ground haze 
tends to degrade the blue. Therefore, the sky will 
print lighter closer to the ground, as there is not 
so much blue for the filter to hold back. 

-K The strongest light in the print is the figure, 
which is on the foremost plane. The light tones 
of the figure against the darker tones of the tree 
give one plane; the dark of the tree against the gray 
of the sky gives another; and the light part of the 
tree against the darker sky tends to give form, and 
separate one plane from another. The grading of 
the sky tends to give it depth and form, which in 
turn pushes the figure forward • The foliage at 
the top of the picture is important in framing the 
composition, but is not so strong as to constitute 
a distraction. This foliage also acts as a support for 
the tree trunk, since with the minimum amount of 
foreground as a base, without some form of balance 
the tree would appear to be rather unstable, which 
would weaken the composition. 

M This photograph was made about six-thirty in 
the afternoon, in early summer. The reason for 
making the exposure at such a late hour was to get 
the very low light desired. The direction of the light 


is shown in the set diagram on the preceding 
page • Since the reproduction was to be made on 
133 line screen, it was possible to take practically 
full advantage of the photographic scale. Since there 
was nothing of any importance in the shadows, I 
based the exposure on the highlights, and measured 
the light in the highlights only. This of course let 
the darkest shadows go black. Not until you expose 
for sets of this kind do you begin to realize how 
fast modern Pan films really are. The exposure was 
1/25 of a second, at F:22, with a 23a filter. The 
23a filter factor is about four times. However, in 
this case, wanting to bring the sky down to quite 
dark, I gave only about twice the exposure for 
which the meter called without a filter. 

M This negative, with a minimum exposure 
plus the red filter, under so-called "normal develop¬ 
ment” would be very flat and weak, since the 
action of the filter in combination with minimum 
exposure tends to reduce contrast. This tendency 
is reduced when a full exposure is given. Therefore, 
it was necessary to develop the negative out as far 
as possible. Since the exposure was made for the 
highlights only, it was impossible to block them in 
development, because they were not over-exposed. 
A two hour development brought out the necessary 
contrast to overcome the flattening effect of the 
filter and minimum exposure. 

-K In the printing, the only local work done was 
in holding back part of the exposure along the dark 
side of the tree. This was done to help the light 
and dark pattern of the print • In holding back 
locally on a print, a small, dark disc of paper, fas¬ 
tened to a piece of piano wire is very handy. This 
disc is held between the paper and the enlarger 
lens. Constantly kept in motion, it will tend to 
lighten that portion of the print it covers, without 
causing any objectionable blemishes • In this case 
the printing time ran about twenty seconds. The 
disc was passed up and down along the dark edge 
of the tree for ten seconds • To further increase 
the contrast, and give stronger blacks, the print 
was developed for two minutes. 


64 













^ This photograph was made for a national 
women’s magazine. It was used to illustrate a story 
on Hollywood standards for women’s figures. The 
photograph was planned to appeal to a specialized, 
sophisticated market, to attract attention, and to 
show the subject’s figure. Since the photograph was 
to be reproduced on an enamel stock by means of 
a fairly fine halftone screen, it was possible to plan 
on using a fairly delicate lighting, and to take 
advantage of delicate halftones and strong blacks • 
The art director wanted a picture which would 
tie-in action and some sport; and which would also 
embody an outdoor feeling, as the photograph 
would run in January, and the majority of the other 
illustrations would be interior shots. By using an 
outdoor photograph, it was possible to give variety 
to the illustrations, and by the contrast this illustra¬ 
tion would have added attention value • Miss Jean 
Parker was used as the subject because she has a 
beautiful figure, and because she is a motion picture 
star. The tennis racket was used to introduce the 
idea of sports, as well as to tie-in with her costume, 
which of course was essential to show her figure. 
The background of sky was used to keep the picture 
simple, and also to give emphasis to the subject, as 
well as provide a definite outdoor feeling. 

-K The composition is very simple, and is based 
entirely upon the placement of the figure in the 
picture space. The figure is placed to the left of 
the center, and with the added weight of the direc¬ 
tional line caused by the direction in which Miss 
Parker is looking, creates a definite pull to the left 
side of the print. This weight is balanced by an 


opposing weight created by the directional lines of 
Miss Parker’s arms, and the weight of the tennis 
racket • In studying the print you will notice that 
neither Miss Parker’s head nor her feet are in the 
exact center of the frame. The strong line formed 
by her legs and head is placed so that it is just off- 
center, but is still balanced by the placement of the 
rest of her figure. This adds interest to the picture. 
If the print had been cropped so that the figure, or 
even the feet were in the exact center of the frame, 
some of the interest value, as well as the action 
would have been lost. This balance can also be 
compared to the teeter-totter, which was used as an 
example with the balance of the bowling pins in 
photograph number four • By placing the racket 
in such a position that the circular shape is shown, 
it was possible to get a circular repeat of the lines 
formed by the subject’s head. This also helps add 
interest to the print. You will notice that the only 
true horizontal line in the picture is the base. This 
helps maintain the feeling of action in the illustra¬ 
tion. The base line was made a heavy dark to give 
stability and a feeling of solidity to the base of the 
picture. Any less weight there would weaken the 
print, since the figure would not have enough 
ground to stand on, and this would make the 
composition top-heavy. 

'K As can be seen by the lighting and set diagram 
above, the camera angle was low. This gave empha¬ 
sis to the figure, and also gave an open expanse of 
sky for the background. The photograph was made 
on the roof of an apartment house in Hollywood, 
and Miss Parker was posed on the top of a ping- 


66 














★ ★ ★ 


pong table. The camera was placed on the roof. 

The lighting on this set was sunlight. The shot 
was made about five P.M. in the month of Decem¬ 
ber, and the sun was just about to set. This gave a 
low, rather weak light. The light was coming 
directly across the figure at right angles to the 
camera. This cross light gave the best possible 
modeling to the subject’s legs and torso. By using 
a reflector on the upper part of the subject’s body 
and head, it was possible to fill in the shadows to 
carry all the detail needed in the upper part of her 
body. By keeping the reflected light off the legs, it 
was possible to get good darks in the shadow areas 
there, which helped to add punch to the print. The 
dark lines caused by the shadows running along the 
legs give them form and depth. A front light would 
not do this. Also, the darks caused by the shadows 
on the right side of the legs and the left arm, give 
depth to the print, as well as contrast and attention 
value. If, for example, the left arm had been the 
same tone value as the right arm, it would have 
appeared as though it were on the same plane with 
the right arm • This cross light also gave good 
modeling to the face, since by the use of the reflec¬ 
tor to fill in the right cheek and the neck, the line 
of light shadow which runs down the front part of 
the cheek and nose caused them to step forward, 
and gives depth to the face; still keeping Miss 
Parker’s features in a good strong light, which made 
her easily recognizable. This, of course, was impor¬ 
tant. 

This photograph was made with the Graflex 
camera, using the Cassar lens. The exposure was 
1/25 of a second at F:18, which was a minimum 
exposure. This was necessary to render the shadow 
areas as definite, strong darks. Any more exposure 
on this set would have lightened the darks and 
weakened the print, because the shadows would 
have become weak grays, and the print would have 
contained much less contrast and attention value. 

In shooting this picture it was necessary to 
pose the action, rather than try to shoot it at a 
high shutter speed. This was because of the weak 


light, and also was necessary in order to get the 
exact pose and facial expression desired • In posing 
action of this type, I have found it easiest to let 
the model try various action poses, and when one 
looks good, have her hold it. Then, by keeping the 
model’s feet in position, allow her to move her 
body and arms to eliminate the possibility of her 
freezing into the pose. In this case, Miss Parker 
kept her feet in position and swung her body and 
arms so that she was more or less relaxed. When 
the racket reached the end of the back swing, I 
snapped the shutter. This made it possible to stop 
the apparent action at 1/25 of a second since, 
when the shot was made, Miss Parker was really 
not moving at all. 

-K By this method it is possible to get an ap¬ 
parent action shot which is posed just as planned. 
The danger of not noticing some undesirable action 
while you are shooting, is largely eliminated. 

M The development on this negative ran about 
one and one-half hours. This was necessary to bring 
out the highlights to their maximum brilliance. 
The printing time on the negative was ten seconds 
at F: 11 • In printing, it was necessary to add more 
base to the picture, since the ping-pong table itself 
was not thick enough to give the figure a strong 
enough, nor a dark enough base. More base was 
added by printing in the bottom of the print with 
raw light. To do this, the print was first exposed as 
usual with ordinary negatives. A black card was 
cut, about one-third larger than the print, and this 
card was held over the entire print and slowly 
drawn upward until only the edge of the ping-pong 
table was being projected onto the printing paper. 
By holding the card in this position and then draw¬ 
ing the negative carrier out of the enlarger, the 
straight, raw light of the enlarger printed in the 
bottom of the print to a good, strong black. This 
exposure only required about one and one-half 
seconds since, without the negative in the enlarger, 
the light is quite strong. The print was developed 
for one and one-half minutes. 


67 












This photograph was made for a June maga¬ 
zine cover. The editor wanted a dramatic photo¬ 
graph of a bride, dressed in the latest style of 
wedding gown. The magazine was directed toward 
a rather sophisticated market, and the editor wanted 
a sophisticated photograph which would be poster - 
ish enough for a cover, but still show the wedding 
gown well enough to have some fashion interest • 
The print was to be reproduced in letterpress on a 
good enamel stock, using about a 133 line screen 
halftone. This made it possible to take advantage 
of good strong darks and clean whites, as well as 
a fairly good range of middle tones. 

M In planning this photograph, I felt that its 
first requisite was strong attention value, plus a 
simple composition. Also, the photograph should 
have dignity, and the model poise. To help create 
strong attention value in the print, I decided to 
use a dark background, and spot the bride against 
it. That would give a strong contrast in light and 
dark, which was very necessary to attract the read¬ 
er’s eye. Also, the dark background would help in 
giving the print some dramatic appeal. I used a 
tall, blonde model to give height to the composi¬ 
tion, and her blonde hair was necessary to give 
contrast between her head and the background. The 
gown was chosen because it was correct as to style 
and color. Also, the fact that it was satin was impor¬ 
tant and useful, in that this material, by its peculiar 
quality of reflecting light in an interesting manner, 
was necessary for adding interest to the picture. 
The bouquet of lilies was chosen instead of a more 
elaborate bouquet, because it could help to keep 


the interest on the figure. Had I used flowers which 
were too fussy and too contrasty in tone value, they 
would have become too important in the composi¬ 
tion. This simple headdress and veil were used to 
contribute to the long, sweeping lines of the figure 
and gown. A more elaborate headdress would have 
looked out of place in this particular setting • 
Naturally enough, the composition was worked out 
so that the sweeping lines of the gown lead to the 
model’s head. In order to help give the figure 
height, I posed her on a stand about two feet above 
the floor and covered the stand with a dark gray 
carpet. To lend dignity to the picture, the model 
was placed almost in the exact center of the print. 
She was posed with her weight on her left foot, 
which caused her figure to lean slightly to the left. 
By having her head and eyes turned toward the left 
side of the print, a directional force was created 
toward that side of the picture. This force was bal¬ 
anced by arranging the train of the gown so that 
the larger portion of it was on the right side of the 
print, as was the strong, sweeping line caused by 
the gown itself. 

-K The composition of the photograph is based on 
triangles. The base of the large triangle is formed 
by the train of the gown. This triangle is repeated 
in a smaller size by the veil. Had the veil on the 
right side of the print been arranged in back of 
the model, instead of draped over her left arm, the 
print would have suffered in that the weight caused 
by this part of the veil is needed to balance the 
weight caused by the large amount of veil on 
the left side of the print. The veil further helps the 


69 








★ ★ ★ 


composition in that the horizontal lines caused by 
the ends play against the numerous vertical lines 
formed by the figure and the folds in the gown. 
Without some horizontal lines to contrast with the 
strong verticals, the print would lose interest value. 
By posing the model so that the sweep of the train 
opposed the lines of her shoulders and torso, it was 
possible to add further interest to the composition. 
M For this shot the camera was placed on the floor. 
This was done to give a maximum feeling of height 
to the figure. Also, from this angle it was possible 
to foreshorten the train slightly and minimize some 
of the uninteresting detail in the train. The picture 
was made with the View camera, equipped with 
the Heliar lens. The swing back of the camera was 
manipulated to carry the focus from the front of 
the train to the model’s head. In this case, the lower 
part of the camera back was swung in toward the 
figure • The swing back on a View camera is very 
useful in carrying focus, and in preventing or help¬ 
ing to create distortion. Its usefulness is most ap¬ 
parent in making architectural photographs, where 
it is essential to keep lines parallel. The only way 
to learn its use is to train the camera from various 
angles on a set-up containing parallel lines and vari¬ 
ous planes. Then study the effect of the different 
movements made possible by the swing back. 

4* As is shown in the set diagram on the preced¬ 
ing page, the lighting on this set was done with 
four spotlights and three broadlights. The main 
source light was a 1000 watt spotlight, which was 
placed to the left and at about a 45 degree angle 
to the camera line. It was about four feet away 
from and about three feet above the model’s head. 
A 500 watt spotlight was used on the right side, at 
about an 80 degree angle to the camera line. It was 
about four feet from the floor, and about three feet 
from the model. A 1000 watt broadlight was used 
next to the camera on the right side and about five 
feet from the floor. The camera was about eighteen 
feet from the model. The background was a dark 
gray flat, and was lighted independently by two 
small photofloods in small reflectors. The photo¬ 


floods were placed on the floor directly behind the 
figure and directed onto the background. There 
were two 500 watt spotlights used, one on each 
side of the figure at about a 90 degree angle to the 
camera line. They were placed directly on the floor 
and each was about ten feet from the figure. These 
two spotlights were focused on the train, but the 
path of their light was blocked off by cardboard 
strips, so that only the top surfaces of the satin 
were hit by their light. This was necessary because 
too much light on the train would cause it to 
become too important, and detract from the figure. 
A front light, directed onto the train, would have 
done this. By just touching the top of the folds in 
the train, the spotlights gave the needed lighting to 
establish the fact that the train was there, and to 
continue the lines in the upper part of the train, 
but still kept the detail of the lower part at a mini¬ 
mum. The portions of the gown which are in front 
of the lighter area of the background have been 
kept dark in value. And where the background is 
dark, the gown has been lighted to contrast with it. 
This is, of course, the old story of the light and dark 
pattern; and it is important in giving modeling to 
the figure, and depth to the print. 

M The light and dark pattern caused by the high¬ 
lights and darks on the folds of the satin helps a 
great deal in giving the print interest and attention 
value. Too strong a front light on this set would 
have filled in these darks, and this quality would 
have been lost. 

-K The exposure on this set was the minimum— 
1/5 of a second at F:22. This was necessary to bring 
out the sheen of the satin and to render the shadows 
as good strong darks. 

-k The development of the negative was one 
hour, to bring out the light tones as good clean 
whites. The printing time was about 15 seconds at 
F:ll. The lower right hand corner was printed 
down for one second, since I felt a lighter tone 
there would tend to distract the reader’s eye from 
the figure. The print was developed for two minutes 
to get the best possible blacks. 


70 










f rrrrrrrrrrrrtn 


rrrrm i rrrrr rrf rr TTT r rr r TTi i r r t mrrr 


Tmr, 


« 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































M This photograph was made to be used as an 
illustration for a newspaper advertisement. The art 
director wanted the car in a dignified setting, with 
a simple, but natural background. Since the photo¬ 
graph was to be reproduced in newspapers, the 
print required good detail, a fairly strong contrast, 
and a good range of middle tones. 

M In visualizing the illustration, this particular 
background seemed very desirable for several rea¬ 
sons. It was a logical place in which to use a car; 
the pillars of the building would give depth to the 
set, draw attention to the car, and also lend dignity 
to the setting. The Venetian blinds, due to their 
regular pattern, would not only add attention value 
to the print, but also help to stand out the car from 
the background • In addition to the pattern of the 
Venetian blinds, the repeat caused by the rectangu¬ 
lar window panes gives added interest to the print, 
■fc In composing this set, the car was placed so 
that the pillar on the left side of the set would 
break off-center in back of the car. This vertical, 
strengthened by its repeating shadow, helps a great 
deal in drawing attention to the car. The weight 
on the left side, created by these verticals and the 
fact that the car is on the left side of the print, is 
balanced by the second pillar on the right side, and 
the added weight given the print by the figures of 
the woman and child • The breaking up of the 
space in the background by the pillars is a result of 
the lateral camera angle. The particular angle from 
which the shot was taken made it possible to divide 
these spaces so that each one is a different size, and 
the rectangles caused by the manner in which the 


pillars and their shadows break over the windows 
have considerable size variation. If the camera had 
been set up from an angle which allowed these 
spaces to become more evenly divided, some of the 
interest value of the illustration would have been 
lost; since adding any more evenness of pattern to 
the set with its even repeat of the Venetian blinds 
and the rectangles created by the window frames, 
would have caused the background to become too 
monotonous. Monotony always tends to decrease 
the interest value of a photograph. 

The placement of the models in this set was 
important. To give the picture as much a feeling of 
realism as possible, it was wise to use two models 
in the car. The rest of the models were placed to 
help balance the composition, and at the same time 
to look as much a natural part-of the set as pos¬ 
sible • The weight caused by the car being on the 
left side of the set was partially balanced by the 
weight of the pillar on the right side. However, 
additional weight was needed. This was gained by 
placing the figures of the woman and child between 
the car and the pillar, closer to the pillar than the 
car, and with their directional weight, created by 
the fact that they are walking into the set, toward 
the car • By placing the figure of the man in the 
doorway, more weight was given the right side, 
which helped to balance the dark created by the 
top of the car. Without this figure, the empty space 
of the open doorway would become too strong a 
spot in the composition. By placing the man’s figure 
in the doorway, this spot was broken up, and its 
importance minimized. If the model had been posed 


72 










★ ★ ★ 


so that he faced the camera, too much interest 
would have been taken away from the car, due to 
the fact that a person’s face is naturally more inter¬ 
esting than the back of his head • The horizontal 
lines of the Venetian blinds, the window frames, 
the shadow of the roof and the curbing all tend to 
emphasize the length of the car. 

The camera was placed slightly to the right and 
about fifteen feet above the ground for this shot. 
The View camera, equipped with the Heliar lens, 
was used. On sets of this type, where a high camera 
angle is needed, I have found the easiest solution 
is to use parallels on which to place the tripod. 
These parallels are simply a series of square stands, 
shaped like a table. They are about four feet in 
height, and one fits on top of the other. By hooking 
the legs of one onto the top of the other, they form 
a very rigid base on which to place a tripod. 

M On the location where this shot was made, I 
was fortunate in finding a set which had some of 
the horizontal lines running somewhat diagonally 
through the picture. These lines, the shadow line at 
the top of the print and the lines of the curbing, 
help by giving a variation from the parallel lines 
formed by the window frames. They add consid¬ 
erably to the action and movement in the photo¬ 
graph • For several of the illustrations in this 
book, I have taken advantage of a directional line 
running diagonally across the set, to help add a 
feeling of life and action to the photographs. In 
the photograph of the girl and the horse, the line 
formed by the head and back of the horse is very 
necessary to add interest to the setup. In the 
photograph of the girl and the bicycle, the lines 
formed by the foreground and the hill in the back¬ 
ground both tend to add more interest and life to 
the picture than if they had been parallel to the 
border. In the United Air Lines illustration, the 
diagonal line of the plane in the foreground gives 
a much greater feeling of power than had this line 
been parallel to the ground. 

In most cases, you will find that diagonal lines 


will add more interest and action to your photo¬ 
graphs than horizontal lines. 

M The lighting on the set was sunlight. The sun 
was at about a sixty degree angle to the ground, and 
was coming onto the set from the right side, about 
three-quarters front. This lighting gave an over-all 
light on the car, and also gave strong shadows on 
the background • The use of the light and dark 
pattern on the set is most apparent in the clothes 
worn by the foremost model in the car. It was 
necessary to spot her against the black of the top 
by having her wear a light coat and white hat. The 
woman and child are dressed in dark and light 
clothes for the same reason. The child’s light dress 
and hat stand out from the darker clothes of the 
woman, whose costume in turn stands her out from 
the light tone of the window. The man in the door¬ 
way is wearing a medium-tone gray coat to stand 
his figure out from the black of the doorway. A 
coat any lighter in this spot, however, would have 
attracted too much interest, and thus weakened the 
attention value of the car • The shadows cast by 
the woman and child help to stand out the chro¬ 
mium on the front of the car. 

M The exposure for this set was 1/10 of a second 
at stop F:32. This exposure was about one stop 
above the minimum, and was given in order to 
render a slight amount of detail in the shadows. 
On the other hand, too much detail, particularly in 
the shadows at the top of the picture, would have 
given the background a too even expanse of tone, 
which would have had a flattening effect upon the 
print. And since detail in the shadows is not impor¬ 
tant to the picture, it was best to minimize it. 
However, less detail would have left the shadows 
too empty-looking, and the print would have 
appeared hard. 

-K The development of the negative ran forty 
minutes, in order to carry good clean lights in the 
higher tones, which helped to stand out the gray 
car o The printing time was seventeen seconds at 
F:ll, and no local printing was necessary. The 
print was developed for one and one-half minutes. 


73 





















-K This photograph is one of a series made for 
national magazine illustrations for the United Air 
Lines. While the majority of the photographs in 
the series were made to conform to definite layouts, 
this particular one was not • A layout consists of a 
sketch of the proposed finished advertisement. It 
indicates the size of the photograph, the placement 
of the headline and copy, and most important, the 
general feeling and idea the advertiser wishes to 
convey. Personally, I much prefer to work to a lay¬ 
out, since it definitely indicates what the art direc¬ 
tor wishes in the way of a photograph, as well as 
how he itends to use the photograph. Any adver¬ 
tising illustration is not judged as a photograph 
alone, but how it does its job in finished form, 
namely, the finished advertisement as reproduced 
in its proper medium. With a definite layout from 
which to work, it is possible to build a composition 
which will compose not necessarily as a picture 
alone, but as a part of a page which will contain 
many important elements besides the photograph • 
Naturally, there are many photographs used which 
are made without the benefit of layouts. In cases 
of this sort, the art director, or layout artist must 
build a layout to incorporate the photograph. While 
this can be and is done a great deal, I personally 
feel that better results are more often achieved 
when the photographer is given a layout from 
which to work. 

M In the case of the particular photograph repro¬ 
duced here, we were working on a different shot 
of the plane in the foreground. When we had 
finished, I noticed that another United ship had 


pulled up at one of the passenger gates. The nose 
of these big ships is very interesting and dramatic, 
and with the chance to show a second plane, the 
possibilities of this photograph were suggested. The 
only problem to be solved was the framing and 
lighting of the set. 

'K In composing the photograph, several things 
were important from the advertiser’s viewpoint. 
Since the photograph was to be used in advertising 
United Air Lines, it was logical to have their in¬ 
signia plainly legible and spotted in a conspicuous 
place. Also, the photograph should be composed in 
such a way that the plane would not look unstable, 
or off-balance. The diagonal thrust of the foremost 
ship’s nose gives this plane a much greater feeling 
of strength, power and movement than would have 
been present had the nose' been on a more hori¬ 
zontal line. Also, the strong darks in the underparts 
and carriage of the plane, at the bottom of the 
print, give the necessary strength and base to sup¬ 
port the large area of ship shown in the upper 
portion of the picture • The nose and undercarriage 
of this foremost ship are really used as a frame in 
which to spot the second plane in the distance. The 
print derives a great deal of its attention value from 
the contrast in size between the two ships, as well 
as the contrast in tone value in the print itself. 

■¥ In order to carry the depth of focus, and also 
emphasize the contrast in size between the two 
planes, a short focus lens was used. The View 
camera was placed on the ground and tilted upward. 
This emphasized the height of the ship’s nose in 
the foreground. By using a short focus lens—12 


75 







★ ★ ★ 


cm. Schneider Angulon F:6.8—the plane in the 
background was kept down in size. And, by stop¬ 
ping down to F: 32, it was possible to carry both 
the foreground and background in sharp focus. 

The light on the set was of course sunlight. 
It was almost a direct cross light, coming from the 
left side, and was at about a sixty degree angle to 
the ground. In order to carry some form in the 
underpart of the ship’s nose, it was necessary to 
use a great deal of reflected light. This reflected 
light was put into the shadows with five reflectors. 
Two of these were made from highly polished tin, 
and were about 6'x6' in size. They reflected a great 
deal of very strong, hot light, and are responsible 
for the strong highlights along the lower part of 
the nose of the plane, and the foremost motor. The 
balance of the reflectors were about 3'x5' in size. 
-K The light and dark pattern is quite evident in 
the print. The underside of the foremost motor is 
lit with reflected light in order to stand it out from 
the strong dark of the underpart of the ship, and 
the further motor, which is in turn silhouetted by 
the lighter tone of the sky. Along the underside of 
the ship’s nose, light has been reflected in places 
where the nose itself is backed by a dark. The 
blades on the foremost propeller were turned so 
that the upper blade caught the sunlight, which 
would stand it out from the darker sky. The lower 
blade was lit with a reflector to stand it out from 
the darks behind it. As can readily be seen, this dark 
and light pattern is very important in giving depth 
to the print • Since the tone values of the planes 
were too close to the value of the sky, it was neces¬ 
sary to use a filter, which also helped to take full 
advantage of the very delicate clouds in the sky. 
However, it was important that the sky not be 
rendered too dark. A black sky might tend to give 
the picture an ominous, depressive feeling, and of 
course that would make it useless from the adver¬ 
tiser’s standpoint. A 23a filter was used, and the 
exposure was about one stop above the minimum. 
This exposure made it possible to render the sky 
as a strong, dark gray and also emphasized the 


delicate clouds in the sky. Since the set was quite 
contrasty, it was still possible to carry the deeper 
shadows as definite darks and allow the strongest 
highlights to register as pure whites • The cross 
light on the set helped to give good texture in the 
foremost ship. While a minimum exposure might 
have given slightly better texture, the medium tones 
in the underside of the ship would have suffered, 
since it was not practical in the short time available 
to fill in the underside of the ship with a general 
light, as would have been desirable. 

M The exposure on this set was 1/5 of a second 
at F:32. The development ran about thirty-five 
minutes. The print was exposed at F:ll for four¬ 
teen seconds and developed two minutes to give 
the best possible blacks. No local printing was 
necessary. 

M It is possible that some readers will wonder 
whether much of what is related here as advanced 
planning is not in reality the result of analysis of 
the pictures after completion. In other words, 
whether the pictures were not made by chance, 
rather than purposely planned • Naturally, many 
of the points of composition, posing of the models, 
lighting, etc., which have been laboriously described 
here, were much less work and fuss than this text 
implies. But they are the result of knowledge gained 
by practice and training. Preparation and planning 
are requisites to good illustrative photography, since 
retakes are costly, and in many cases impossible. 
Thumbnail sketches are invaluable to planning. In 
many cases the finished photograph does not closely 
resemble the sketch; however, the idea in the sketch, 
the way in which it is carried out, is dependent 
upon the various technical problems confronted at 
the time of shooting • The choice of models, props 
and locations are all very important parts of prep¬ 
aration, and if not properly chosen will result in a 
poor picture. The composition, lighting and posing 
of models are extremely important, and to neglect 
any of them is dangerous, since only the combina¬ 
tion of all these elements properly handled in 
execution will result in a successful illustration. 


76 











4* This print was made without the use of a 
camera, and really is not a photograph. Prints of 
this type are called photo grams. This particular one 
was made to be used as a back cover on a book of 
original prints, which I used for showing my work 
to prospective customers. These sample books are 
made up of about forty prints, and are bound by 
spiral or plastic binding. The prints are made on 
single weight matte paper, and are all made to 
about a 10x12 size. They are mounted back to back 
with dry mounting tissue, and trimmed bleed. By 
this I mean that all of the white border on the 
prints is trimmed off • By putting prints into book 
form it is possible to carry a large selection in a 
very small amount of space. Also, by being bound 
in book form, they are protected from the usual 
handling which a group of mounted prints always 
seem to receive. 

-K In mounting the prints, the dry mounting 
tissue is placed on one of the prints, and the other 
is then put in place on the back of the tissued print, 
and both are placed in the dry mounting press • If 
you do not happen to have a press, it is possible to 
dry mount by using an electric flat iron, a ferrotype 
tin and some heavy wrapping paper. The tissued 
print is laid in place on whatever you wish to use 
as a backing. Then the wrapping paper is laid over 
the face of the print. The ferrotype tin is next 
placed on the wrapping paper, shiny side down. 
By continuously moving the hot iron over the ferro¬ 
type tin, it is possible to do a very excellent job of 
mounting, without the use of the press regularly 
employed for this purpose. 


■¥■ The variation of patterns, design and effects 
it is possible to obtain with a photogram is practi¬ 
cally unlimited. The only equipment needed to 
make such prints is printing paper, a light source 
such as a spotlight, the light projected by your 
enlarging machine, or even an ordinary incandes¬ 
cent light bulb. And, of course, the regular equip¬ 
ment for developing prints • The printing paper 
is placed on a flat surface, such as a table. Or, if you 
are using your enlarger and the direct top light 
from it, your easel in the darkroom, under the 
ordinary safelight conditions. Then, any objects you 
may care to use are placed upon the printing paper. 
The light source is directed onto these objects and 
the paper from any angle desired. This naturally 
exposes the paper, and when it is developed out, 
the parts covered by the objects which were on it 
are white, or unexposed, if the objects were not 
transparent or semi-transparent; while the rest of 
the paper is gray or black, depending upon the 
amount of light which is directed onto it from the 
light source. The possible variations are of course 
limited only by the various objects laid upon the 
paper, and the manner in which they are arranged. 
M The amount of exposure given must be arrived 
at by testing. This exposure will depend upon the 
strength of the light source, the distance it is from 
the paper, and the length of exposure time required 
to get the effect you want • In testing, it is wise 
to find the exposure where the blacks will be fully 
developed in normal development time for your 
paper and developer. Using the Amidol formula 
given in the Introduction to this book, and Velour 


78 







★ ★ ★ 


Black paper, this time will run two minutes. If too 
much exposure is given, your resulting print will 
undoubtedly be muddy and weak. And if too little 
time is given, your print will have no blacks, and 
be gray and flat, or thin-looking. 

■fc Once your exposure time is known, the results 
will depend upon the way in which you place the 
various objects on the printing paper, and the 
direction of your light. Very interesting results can 
be obtained by using transparent or semi-transpar¬ 
ent objects, as well as solid ones. For instance, glass 
strips, cellophane, movie film, glasses, egg beaters, 
collanders, button hooks, knives and forks, tissue 
paper, clock wheels, leaves, combs, cutouts, to men¬ 
tion a few; or practically anything which casts an 
interesting shadow, or has an interesting shape may 
be used. By arranging these objects together so that 
their shadows and shapes are printed on the paper 
by the flash of the light source, interesting and 
sometimes weird designs can be obtained. Also, by 
using cellophane, and lettering or painting on it, 
you will be able to work lettering and shadings into 
the resulting photogram in almost any way de¬ 
sired • It is also possible to use the resulting print 
as a negative, and print the design in reverse onto 
another piece of paper. For doing this, it is best to 
use a single weight paper for making the first 
photogram. 

4* In the photogram reproduced here, I used a 
round, clear glass ball, a condensor lens and a string 
of glass beads. I placed a sheet of 11x14 double 
weight glossy paper on the easel of the enlarger, 
then placed the glass ball on the paper and stood 
the condensor lens on its edge, leaning it against 
the glass ball. Across the upper right hand corner 
of the paper was placed the string of glass beads. 
The light source was the enlarger, which of course 
was used without a negative in the holder. (Note 
the set and lighting diagram on the preceding 
page). 

M The exposure was calculated to expose the 
paper so that in two minutes of development it 
would become a very dark gray in the clear parts.. 


This allowed those parts of the print where the 
glass concentrated the light onto the paper to be 
rendered a very strong black, such as the center of 
the glass ball and beads, and also the circular form 
cast by the condensor lens. The resulting print from 
this set-up was worked up by strengthening a few 
of the lines, particularly on some of the reflections 
cast by the glass ball. The teardrop and eyelash 
were painted on the original print, which was then 
copied • The copy was made on Du Pont Superior 
film, and the negative developed forty minutes. 
The print was exposed for twelve seconds at F:ll, 
and developed for one and one-half minutes. 

The purpose of this photogram was not to 
embody any abstract idea, but merely to serve as 
an interesting design suitable for the back cover 
of the sample book for which it was used. 

M In copying, the placement of the lights is very 
important. I have found that two lights of equal 
intensity are very satisfactory. They can be either 
spotlights or small broadlights. It is important that 
care be taken in placing these lights, as anything 
which is lighted will throw off a certain amount of 
reflection; and this is particularly true of a glossy 
or semi-glossy paper. If this reflection is such that 
it hits the lens of the camera, the resulting copy 
will suffer in quality. Place one light on each side 
of the camera, closer to the copy easel than to the 
camera. And be sure to illuminate the entire copy 
material evenly. If you are in doubt as to how the 
light is being reflected, place a mirror over the 
material being copied and the reflections will be¬ 
come more apparent • It is important to use a 
minimum exposure, since any over-exposure will 
tend to flatten the copy, and over-development will 
tend to make the resulting print contrasty, and the 
quality will suffer. Under-development, on the other 
hand, will result in a weak, flat copy, as will 
under-exposure. The print for copy purposes should 
be just a little darker than would ordinarily be 
made, particularly in the highlights. If this is not 
the case it will be difficult to hold highlight detail 
in the copy negative. 


79 






★ ★ ★ 


A NUMBER OF THE PHOTO¬ 
GRAPHS ARE REPRODUCED 
HERE BY THE COURTESY OF: 

All Year Club of Southern California 
N. W. Ayer and Son, Inc. 

Bireley’s, Inc. 

Bullock’s-W ilshire 

California Rotogravure Company 

Continental Advertising Agency 

Crowell Publishing Company 

The Ford Motor Company 

Wilbur C. Jeffries Company 

Lord & Thomas 

Phillip J. Meany Company 

J. W. Robinson Company 

Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel 

Saturday Night Magazine 

Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation 

United Air Lines 

Westways Magazine 

You Publishing Company 


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